Ore, Shoujo
by Paranoiac
Summary: - Den-O - After a bizarre accident, Ryoutarou is flung into a reality where his friends and family are...changed. Meanwhile, someone else has taken his place in his dimension...
1. Prologue

**Title:** Ore, Shoujo

**Rating:** T

**Fandom:** Den-O, minor crossover with Decade.

**Pairings:** Canon.

**Disclaimer:** This is a fanwork. I am not affiliated in any way with Toei, TV Asahi, Bandai, or Kamen Rider in any way, shape or form.

**Special Thanks:** B-kun, who beta'ed, pointed out several _extremely embarrassing_ consistency errors, and kicked me until I finished this; GreenNinja, for the final beta and for tolerating me going HEY HAVE YOU FINISHED IT YET HUH HEY. They are awesome people, and any mistakes that made it into the final version are mine, not theirs.

**Warnings:** Mostly language (lots of F-bombs – hey, it's Momotaros), some adult themes. And, uh, genderswap, and lots of it.

**Spoilers:**

This takes place directly after episode 28 of Den-O, when they get Climax Form, but has spoilers for up til episode 42-43ish, and non-explicit spoilers/foreshadowing for the rest of the series.

Super-minor-sort-of-not-really spoilers for Decade. If you've seen up to episode 10, you're good. If you haven't, you're probably still good. It's really not a huge part of the fic.

One minor spoiler for Gekiranger, because I couldn't help myself.

Everybody got that? Okay, good. Let's get started.

* * *

It was midway through the day, and so far nothing weird or extraordinary or potentially fatal had happened. Ryoutarou wan't sure if he should be worried or not.

Even the Imagin were behaving themselves. Oh, sure, Ryuu was being obnoxious and Momo and Ura kept fighting and Kin was being no help at all – but so far nothing had blown up or gone under siege or been randomly launched into space, and they'd only publically humiliated him a couple of times. All in all, it was a pretty quiet day.

So it was almost a relief when, on his way back from getting groceries, a nearby door flung open and Hana came racing out, waving her arms madly. The door hit Ryoutarou full in the face and he went down, tearing his shirt and spilling groceries everywhere.

"Ryoutarou, you have to come quickly, there's –" Hana started, but then she stopped, puzzled. After a moment it occurred to her to look down for him, and she sighed. "Oh, you're _hopeless_. Come on, get on the train!"

Ryoutarou protested, still trying to gather up the fallen and partially-crushed food, but he had barely enough time to shove it all haphazardly back in the bag before Hana grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back through the door.

Well, he _had_ been thinking today had been sort of dull…

"Is it an Imagin attack?" he asked, resigning himself to not getting home on time. The rainbow-colored sky of the fourth dimension flashed past him, and then he was in the DenLiner's hallway, Hana still pulling him forward. "Or – something in the time stream? What's wrong? Why –"

"SURPRISE!" shouted five voices at once, and Ryoutarou screamed like a little girl and dropped the groceries again. The Imagin (plus Naomi) crowded around him, grinning hugely, as though they hadn't just almost given him a heart attack.

"Happy birthday!" Ura added. Ryoutarou tried to get his bearings back, and failed.

"It's not my –" he started, before he realized who'd said it. "What's going on?"

Everyone beamed at him. Ryoutarou wondered if he'd accidentally done something cool while he wasn't paying attention.

"We're celebrating Climax Form," Hana told him, with a kind of half-smile that he'd never seen on her before. "And everything that led up to it. I'm really impressed, Ryoutarou – you know, when I first met you, I really didn't think you'd survive your first battle, let alone get this far. And especially after you went and picked up four more idiots along the way. I never expected you to get so far!"

Ryoutarou nodded weakly, not sure if this was supposed to be a compliment or not. He appreciated the thought, but honestly, a 'congratulations, we all thought you'd be dead by now!' party seemed a little…morbid.

"It was my idea," Momo said, which Ryoutarou supposed made sense. He looked so proud of himself, though, that he didn't have the heart to say anything, and just tried to smile.

"Yeah, whatever," said Ryuu. "Where's the cake? I want cake!"

Kin said nothing, just clapped Ryoutarou on the back in manly congratulations; Ryoutarou cringed as something cracked, and he rubbed discreetly at his shoulder when Kin wasn't looking.

"I want to be clear, I went along with this only for the entertainment value," Ura was saying, as Naomi presented Ryoutarou with a cup of coffee. But this was not just any cup of coffee – she'd somehow managed to stuff an _entire cake_ on top of it, complete with three-inch deep icing in the Imagin's respective colors. There was a little beige bit in the middle that Ryoutarou thought was probably supposed to be him.

"I, um, wow," he managed, after a moment of just staring at it in horror. He glanced up at Naomi hopefully, but no, it appeared that she actually expected him to eat it. "It looks…wow. Did I mention I just ate? Maybe I could, um, just take some for later –"

There was a loud screeching noise, and the room was plunged into darkness.

_Oh thank god, now I don't have to eat it,_ was Ryoutarou's first thought. Then his brain caught up with him and he said, "AUGH!"

Nobody heard him over the Imagin's shrieking. Hana was screaming herself hoarse from somewhere off to the left – not that she was frightened, she was actually yelling at them to shut up – and Naomi was gibbering something about everyone being careful not to crush the cake, and then –

"It seems," Owner said gravely, "that we have lost power throughout the entire train."

Ryoutarou nearly screamed again. Had Owner even been in the car a second ago?! But there he was now; he'd gotten a flashlight from somewhere, and he was holding it directly under his face. The effect was only slightly more maniacal than usual.

"Lost power?" Hana demanded. "What do you mean, lost power? Aren't we powered by the Den-Bird?"

Owner shrugged. They waited another minute, but this looked like this was all the answer they were going to get. Hana sighed irritably.

"Okay, well," she said, "I guess we'd better split up and look for a – fuse box, or something? And somebody should go check out the Den-Bird, just in case."

"I'll go," Ryoutarou volunteered, mostly because it was as far away from the dining car and Naomi's cake as he could get. Hana nodded and set about assigning the Imagin to check the other parts of the train; as he slipped out, Ryoutarou could hear a giant fight erupting already. He moved faster.

He'd just reached the door to the driver's cab when _something_ moved behind him. He froze and, not knowing if he wanted to look, carefully turned around.

There was nothing there. Was that a good or bad sign? Heart pounding, Ryoutarou turned back –

"Oi," Momo hissed, and Ryoutarou proceeded to _jump right out of his skin_. "Are you going in or not?"

"Oh my god don't _do_ that," Ryoutarou gasped, clutching at his heart. "Wait, why are you here? I thought Hana told you to search the Gouka cars?"

"Yeah, well, she's a nosy bitch who doesn't know what the fuck she's talking about," Momo said, without remorse. "And god only knows what kind of trouble _you'd_ get up to on your own. Somebody has to make sure you don't trip over your own feet and crack your fucking head open."

Ryoutarou rolled his eyes, but he didn't say anything as Momo followed him into the cab. It was Momo's way of saying he was worried about him being alone, which was – well, kind of misguided, really. It wasn't like an Imagin was going to just jump out at him from behind the Den-Bird or anything –

Something shifted behind the Den-Bird. Ryoutarou had just enough time to curse himself for thinking that before an Imagin leapt out, going straight for his throat.

Fortunately Momo's reflexes were better than his, and all he saw was a big red blur as the two Imagin hit each other head-on. He had the impression of something vaguely catlike with big spiked boots, and he was just fumbling for his Rider Pass when –

"What the _hell_?" Momo said in bewilderment. The Imagin was dissolving back into sand, utterly silently; it was actually a pretty creepy sight. "I barely even touched it! Come _on_, that's not fair – you get back here and give me a _real_ fight –"

There was a soft hum, and the lights flickered back on. Ryoutarou had to squint in the sudden brightness.

"Was that an Imagin?!" Hana's voice said, from the doorway. She was standing there, the other Imagin peering over the top of her head. "How did an _Imagin_ get onto the train?!"

"Ahem," Ura said. Hana glared first at him, then back at Ryoutarou.

"If you let _another_ one onto the train –" she started menacingly, but Ryoutarou shook his head before she could finish.

"Momo killed it," he said quickly. "Actually it was weird, he only hit it once and it just _died_ –"

"It did it on _purpose_," Momo grumbled. "Just to spite me. I _know_ it!"

Hana frowned. "I guess that's what messed with the power," she said. "So – if you killed it, and the power's back…maybe it was just trying to mess with us, since it wasn't that strong?"

Somehow, Ryoutarou didn't think that was it. The whole thing had just been so – _pointless_. What had it intended to do, once it had the power out? And dying in one hit was just _weird_, even if it had been weak. Why had it even _bothered_?

It was almost like it had been trying to _distract_ them, or something. But of course that was ridiculous – when had Imagin ever worked together, especially when it meant self-sacrifice? Even _his_ Imagin didn't like cooperating. And even then, what could it have been trying to distract them _from_…?

He told himself all this, but he still felt uneasy. Something was not right here.

_Well, I can't do anything about it until it shows up,_ he thought, although that thought didn't make him feel any better either. He was silent as they trooped back to the dining car, trailing behind the rest of them.

"Well, I still want cake," Ryuu whined, which broke the mood. Naomi (who could cheerfully pour a cup of coffee for Death himself) began slicing and serving cake, prompting Ryoutarou to suddenly remember that he really desperately had to be elsewhere right now.

"Neesan really needs these groceries," he explained, ignoring that most of them had been damaged when he dropped them, and Kin had sat on the bag at some point and crushed the rest of them. "So I'll see you later, then. No, I'm _sure_ I don't need to take any home with me…"

He was ready to just jump right off by the time the train finally coasted to a stop. He almost _did_, but the manners that had been ground into him since birth took over.

"Thanks," he said, dodging Naomi's millionth offer of cake. "But I really have to get home, or Neesan will start to worry –"

And that was when something grabbed him by the head and pulled him out of the train.


	2. Chapter 1

Ryoutarou was laying in the middle of the road. There was a pack of half-crushed eggs on his face, and they were leaking over his nose.

He sat up and tried to remember what had happened. He'd been on the train, and there'd been an Imagin, and cake, and he'd started to disembark, and…

…he couldn't remember anything after that. Maybe he'd fallen and blacked out? It wouldn't be the first time something like that had happened. And – well, he didn't think they would've just _left_ him, but…

"Did I faint, or something?" he asked, but there was no answer from the back of his head. Now _that_ was weird; normally the Imagin jumped at the opportunity to tell him what an idiot he was.

People were starting to stare at him now, laying in the street covered in groceries and talking to himself, so Ryoutarou hurriedly picked himself (and everything else) up. He was only a block away from Milk Dipper, about the point where Hana had grabbed him in the first place, so it was just a few minutes before he was walking back in the door.

Neither Ozaki nor Miura were there. Okay, now it was getting _really_ weird.

Secretly, though, he kind of appreciated it – it probably didn't mean anything, it wasn't like they _lived_ there. It'd been a long day, and he didn't think he could've put up with their…enthusiasm…right now anyway.

There were two women at the counter, one in a yukata and the other in a rather smart business suit, but they already had cups of coffee in front of them, so he didn't have to deal with that either. Airi was probably in the back – she wouldn't mind, he was certain, if he just left the groceries in the kitchen, and went straight to his room to collapse without saying hello. For all that he'd said he needed to be home soon, she wasn't actually expecting him for another few hours.

He started behind the counter, but one of the women – the one in the suit – suddenly shouted, in a curiously melodramatic fashion, "Young man!"

It startled him so much that he jumped, looking back guiltily and wondering what he'd done. The woman stared down her nose at him and continued, "Young man, that is the _employee's_ section. You're not allowed back there!"

Ryoutarou just stared at her for a moment, totally confused. Then it occurred to him that she obviously wasn't a regular, she didn't know he lived here, and he relaxed. It was just a simple misunderstanding.

"It's okay," he said, trying to manage a smile. He heard footsteps heading out from the back, but he didn't turn around; it would be Airi, of course, and then she could back up his story and let him get on to bed. "I'm related to the owner, you see –"

"Ah! You're back early, Ryo-chan!" said a voice behind him. It was full of warmth and love and reassurance, exactly the tone Airi would use to greet him; the tone that always made him feel better after a long hard day of bicycle flats and Imagin-fighting and things falling on him. Except –

Ryoutarou stiffened. That wasn't his sister's voice.

Very slowly, he turned around, not quite sure what to expect. The man behind him – it was definitely a man; the shoulders were broad, the voice deep – smiled at him, kindly but a little vaguely, looking confused. He was about Ryoutarou's height, with longish hair, and he was holding a bag of Airi's special coffee blend in one hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, just as both women leapt up and declared, "Ashiri-san!"

"Ashiri-san," the woman in the yukata was saying, as Ryoutarou _stared_ in horror. No. No, this had to be a mistake, maybe he'd just…gone into the wrong Milk Dipper, or something. "Ashiri-san, this boy said he's related to you! Why didn't you tell us you had a relative coming to visit? And such a nice-looking young boy –"

"Now that you mention it," the lady in the suit interrupted, talking loudly over the other woman in a way that was horribly, horribly familiar, "he _does_ sort of resemble Ashiri-san! Looks like he could be his little brother, doesn't he? Although he almost reminds me more of –"

"I'm sorry," Ashiri said again, apparently ignoring the other two. He gave Ryoutarou a very gentle smile. "I thought you were someone else. Can I help you?"

Ryoutarou shook his head mutely. Behind him, the two women were squabbling over Ashiri's attention, apparently oblivious to the fact that he wasn't listening to either of them.

"I was just about to start brewing the special house blend," Ashiri continued, holding up the bag in his hand. "Or you could look at the books, if you'd like. Do you like the stars?"

He started to say yes, too confused to say anything else, but just then the woman in the suit leaned over and said, loudly enough to catch Ashiri's attention, "Ashiri-san! Aren't you going to introduce us to your adorable relative?" And she gave Ryoutarou a wide, predatory grin. Ryoutarou noticed that her lipstick had smudged over her teeth, leaving small red stains that made her look even more vampirish.

Ashiri blinked. Then he said, tilting his head to one side in confusion, "Relative?"

If Ura had been here, he could have come up with some elaborately-fabricated story to explain things – but none of the Imagin had said anything since Ryoutarou had left the train, and so he was on his own. And he had absolutely no idea what to say.

"Um," he said, stalling for time. Everyone was looking at him now; Ashiri's expression curious, the two women's suspicious. "…That is to say. Er."

Fortunately, he was saved right then as the doors burst open, a young man dashing through them and gasping for breath as though he'd just run all the way to the store from the other side of Japan. Ryoutarou felt incredibly relieved for the interruption – at least, he did until he got a better look at the heart-shaped face, with the familiar curl to the lips…

"Ashiri-san," the man started, but he broke off as he saw them all standing there. "Oh – sorry for the intrusion – has Ryoko come home yet?"

Behind him, Ryoutarou was vaguely aware of Ashiri waving, with a cheerful, "Haru-kun!", and somehow that was the last straw. Ryoutarou opened his mouth, cleared his throat –

– and fell over in a dead faint.

* * *

Nougami Ryoko was having the worst day of her entire life.

Well, okay, maybe not the _worst_. That position was still held by the day Sakurai-san had disappeared; seeing her brother standing there on the beach, looking confused and heartbroken, staring at Sakurai-san's still-floating rowboat, empty except for her pocketwatch…

But this day was definitely coming in at a close second.

First the Imagin attack, then she'd blacked out on the train, and all she'd wanted to do once she got home was go to _bed_, but there'd been these strange perverted-looking men in the shop, and when she'd called for her brother in the hopes of scaring them off –

"Oh, Airi-san, you never told us you had such a cute little cousin!" one of the men leered. Ryoko stumbled back, terrified; her foot caught on a loose floorboard and she went down, landing hard on her backside. As further proof that this was her Second-Worst Day Ever, her skirt flew up – and in her frantic attempts to pull it back down again before either of the creepy guys _saw_ anything, her elbow hit a bookcase, sending the entire contents of the top shelf falling right onto her face.

"Oh my, are you all right?" The weird lady – Airi – hurried over, pulling off books and helping her into a sitting position. As Ryoko tried not to cry from sheer bewilderment, she added, almost as an afterthought, "I don't have a cousin."

"Really?" The man in the suit frowned, peering closer. Ryoko shuffled backwards, reminded horribly of Ozaki-san and her freaky, overdramatic facial expressions. "But she looks just like you, Airi-san! She could be your _sister_! Maybe a niece…?"

"Where's my brother?" Ryoko blurted out before she could stop herself, too scared to think of anything else. Who were these people? What were they doing in Milk Dipper? Where was Ashiri, with his big smiles and stupid health drinks? All of them just stared at her, uncomprehending.

Finally Airi said, "Was he supposed to meet you here? No one's been in for hours, except for Ozaki-san and Miura-san…"

Ryoko stared wide-eyed at the two men – _okay,_ she thought, _maybe they're just…related. That would explain why they're so creepy, anyway._ It was a lame excuse and she knew it, but right now, her brain could not _handle_ the suspicion being formed.

"No, he _lives here_," she said, on the verge of tears. "He owns this store and I help out in the afternoons and we live in the back and – and –"

She really did start crying now, tears pouring down her cheeks, the rest of her sentence ending up in a choked sob. Once she'd started, she just couldn't _stop_, and at least the two creeps looked embarrassed, served them right. Airi, for her part, patted her gently on the back and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Maybe you got the wrong address," she suggested. Ryoko just cried harder.

She calmed down a little a few minutes later, once Airi (unsure of what else to do) had settled her down in a chair with a nice hot cup of sesame garlic tea. It looked absolutely disgusting, but she assured her that it would soothe her nerves and clean her sinuses – and then she gave her the 'it's-good-for-you-so-don't-argue' smile, the one that Ashiri always gave her after _he'd_ made something totally gross but ostensibly healthy, and she nearly started crying again. She was horribly embarrassed for breaking down like that, especially in front of _strangers_, but…well, Second-Worst Day Ever, and all.

_Oi,_ said a voice, from somewhere deep inside of her mind. If she'd stopped to think about it, it might have registered that something wasn't quite right, but she was too relieved at the familiar gruffness to notice anything else.

"Momo," she whispered, half-into her tea. It smelled even worse than it looked, which was an amazing feat. She wrinkled her nose and put the cup back down again.

_What's going on? I've been trying to talk to you for ages!_ Momo growled, and Ryoko managed the first smile she'd had all afternoon. That was Momo for you; uncertain and overprotective and trying to hide it all by being bitchy. _When did you get back to Milk Dipper?_

Ryoko took a quick look around – the creeps weren't paying attention to her anymore, and Airi had started brewing the new coffee, her back to her. She was using all of Ashiri's equipment, she noticed, and she looked like she knew her way around. She even had the same dreamy expression as he did, making gentle 'shh'ing noises at the coffee grounds, and Ryoko suddenly couldn't look at her anymore because it was _too weird_.

Instead, she took a deep breath and said, still in a whisper, "Just a bit ago. But it's not _right_, Momo, nothing's right! There's a bunch of weirdos here and I don't know where Niisan is and it's just –"

_Wait, what? Slow down! _What's_ not right?_

Ryoko blinked. "What? Oh, sorry, hold on –"

She turned and took a wide, sweeping look around, focusing especially on Airi behind the counter. She got an odd look from man-Miura, but she didn't care anymore, and got back to staring into her stupid tea in resignment.

_I don't get it,_ Momo said, after a long moment of silence. _I thought you said there was something wrong! You said there were weirdos! I was hoping I'd finally get to beat someone up!_

"Didn't you see?" Ryoko whispered, bewildered again. Had Momo gone blind or something? For that matter, why was her voice so deep? A horrible, petrifying thought began to occur to her, but she forced it out of her mind before it had finished forming. No, there was _no way_ –

_Never mind,_ Momo said crossly, _I'll just take a look for myself!_ And before Ryoko could say anything else, she felt Momo's spirit overtake hers, and had the familiar feeling of her her consciouness being pushed into the background…

* * *

Momo shook his head, trying to clear it. Okay, obviously something had gone wrong here – he must have become disoriented from the change somehow. The world seemed a lot lower, for some reason, and his head felt heavier, like there was more weight on it than usual. He put his hand up to his forehead, trying to steady himself –

Wait, when had Ryoutarou gotten so much hair? He grabbed a fistful of it and stared, bug-eyed. It was practically down to his _waist_! What had once been just a short red streak was now a long, thin red braid, starting – he put his hand up to check – at the crown of his head and ending just past his breasts, tied off with a cute little red ribbon –

Wait.

_Wait_.

Afraid to look down, Momo reached up with his free hand and experimentally patted his chest. He swallowed hard and, mustering up all his courage, took a quick peek.

There was…rather more of it than usual. (Granted, it wasn't a _lot_ more, but…) There was a resounding, many-voiced mental _EH?!_ in the back of his head, but he ignored it, instead grabbing the front collar of his shirt and pulling it out so he could look down.

Oh, huh. Polka-dots.

_Momo!_ he heard Ryoutarou hiss – although now that he thought about it, the voice was higher than usual, more nasally. _What are you _doing_! Stop looking at my underwear!_

"Oh shit," Momo muttered, and his voice wasn't anywhere near as low as it should be. He dropped the collar and stared at the rest of his body, gawking a little. How had he not _noticed_? Ryoutarou wasn't even wearing any pants! Instead he was wearing a cute little pleated skirt and – wow, had his legs looked that nice _yesterday_? He looked a little further, and felt his brain break even more. _Heels_. With open-toes. The toenails were painted bright red.

_Oh my,_ the stupid turtle commented. _It looks like Ryoutarou has discovered crossdressing._

_EH?!_ Ryoutarou's high-pitched little voice shrieked.

"EH?!" Momo screamed, leaping up and knocking over his chair. He was aware of Airi and the two dorks staring at him, and he turned redder than the braid in his hair. Well, Ryoutarou's body still blushed just as easily, with or without his pants.

"Are you all right?" Airi asked, looking concerned. Momo shook his head and gave her a big grin, wondering why the hell she was not more concerned over seeing her little brother in drag. What had _happened_ after they'd dropped Ryoutarou off?

_I'm not a crossdresser!_ Ryoutarou was insisting, a little waver in his voice. If he started to cry, Momo promised himself, he was just going to _stab him_ right through his polka-dot-clad chest. _Wh…what's going on? Why do you guys sound so different? Where's Niisan?_

"Niisan?" Momo said in surprise, barely remembering to whisper as he picked his chair back up. He plopped himself back into it; after a moment of being stared at by the dorky idiots at the counter, he remembered that Ryoutarou was for some _ungodly_ reason wearing a skirt, and shut his legs so fast he almost got whiplash. "Oi, Ryoutarou, what the hell are you talking about? Why are you in a _skirt_?"

_Who's Ryoutarou?!_ was the response. _I'm Ryoko, don't you remember? What's gotten into everyone?!_

Ryoko?

_Ryoko_?

Momo looked down at his lap. Very carefully, he began to edge his hand along his thigh, under the hem of the skirt –

_OH MY GOD DON'T YOU DARE,_ Ryoutarou screamed, and the next thing he knew, Momo was flat on his ass in the dining car, right between Naomi and the purple brat, getting a faceful of bubbles. He jumped up, swearing, but Ryoutarou – Ryoko – had shut him out, and he couldn't jump back in again. Everyone was staring at him.

"I think," Ura sighed, "that we need to go pick Ryoutarou up _right now_."


	3. Chapter 2

Ryoutarou woke up to the scent of fresh coffee.

By the smell of it, it was Airi's house blend; he smiled as he inhaled, feeling oddly relaxed. He'd always liked the smell of coffee, although normally he had to get up before Airi started brewing, before the shop was filled with the warm scent of her little coffee friends –

_Wake up,_ said a voice inside his head, and Ryoutarou's eyes flew open. Someone was leaning over him, a boy with a heart-shaped face and feathery hair, looking angry.

"He's awake," he said, and Ryoutarou started to sit up, wondering what was going on. He looked around – this was definitely Milk Dipper, complete with books and coffee and telescope, all in the right places. He didn't recognize the two guys standing over him, though, or the women in the background. Had something fallen on him again?

"I'm okay," he murmured, trying to sound reassuring, but it just seemed to make the boy even angrier. He didn't see Airi anywhere; she'd probably gone to get medical help. They were on a first-name basis with the paramedics now, so they'd probably get back quickly.

"Ashiri-san," the boy said firmly, "I think he's fine. I'll take him home, okay?"

"Oh, are you friends? Does he know Ryo-chan, too?" the man next to him asked pleasantly. Ryoutarou started to shake his head; he'd never seen this boy before in his life, and besides, he lived _here_, but he was hauled to his feet before he could say anything.

"Yes. We're good friends," the boy said, even as he started to drag him towards the door. Ryoutarou stared at him in astonishment. "We'll say hi to Ryoko for you, but right now he's _really_ got to go home –"

"Um," Ryoutarou started desperately, right as he was pushed through the door and onto the sidewalk. He tripped and fell flat on his face, wincing as the gravel bit into his skin.

Then he was pulled up again, and found himself face-to-face with a boy who looked unsettlingly familiar. Hey, he almost looked like –

"Okay," the boy said, fury in his voice, "what have you done to Ryoko?"

"Ryoko?" Ryoutarou repeated, confused. The boy grabbed him by the collar – he was taller than him, and had more muscle, and Ryoutarou knew where this was going. He braced himself and tried to go to his happy place, thinking of puppies and kittens and not about how much this beating was going to hurt, but all the boy did was shake him.

"Where is she?" he demanded. "I know you did something to her! There's no use denying it!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a dark, rectangular object – his Rider Pass, Ryoutarou realized with a jolt. "I found _this_ on you when I was helping Ashiri-san move your stupid body. So you'd better tell me what the hell you did with her, or I will _break you_."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ryoutarou protested. This wasn't the right thing to say – the next thing he knew he was up against the wall and they were nose-to-nose, the other boy snarling at him like some kind of wild animal.

And then, blessed relief – Momo's voice in his head, a deep growl of, _What's _his_ problem?_

"Momo –" he started, trying to speak around the faceful of angry weirdo. Said weirdo's eyebrows knit together briefly – and then he shoved him into the wall again with a hissed, "What _about_ Momo?!"

Ryoutarou stared at him – how did he know about Momo? But he didn't have long to ponder it, because just then he felt Momo _push_ his mind out of the way, and he sank gratefully into the welcoming cushion of…wherever it was he went to when he wasn't in control. Ordinarily he'd be telling Momo not to hurt the punk _too_ badly, just let us get away in one piece please, but…he was so exhausted right now, he didn't care if Momo punched his face in.

He watched as his body grabbed the boy's shoulders, pushing him off with a burst of Momo-enhanced strength. The boy fell on his back, and then they were on top of him, staring down into his face. And then…

…they stepped back and held out their hand to help him up.

"Oi, Haru," Momo said, and Ryoutarou's sense of confusion just grew. "Where the _fuck_ do you get off attacking us like that? Have you gone _nuts_?"

Haru stared up at them, his eyes looking like they were about to pop out and roll around like giant marbles. Finally he said, sounding oddly choked, "_Momo_?"

"Who else would it be, you idiot?" Momo snapped, sounding exasperated. Ryoutarou flailed a little, mentally.

_Momo, what's going on?_ he asked. His mind was spinning, especially as the memories from before he'd fainted came trickling back. _Who is this guy? Why was he assaulting us? Why did he take my Pass?_

There was a pause, and then he heard Momo say, intelligently, "What?"

_I don't understand,_ Ryoutarou said, frustrated now. _First Neesan is missing, then this guy is jumping on me and demanding to know what I did with some girl, and now you _know_ him? I don't get it!_

"Momo," Haru interrupted, having pulled himself back up again. "What happened to Ryoko?"

"Are you blind, stupid?" Momo sneered. "Did you both get hit on the head or something? You're acting like you've never seen each other before!"

_But –_ Ryoutarou started, but he was interrupted by another voice, smooth like water and, while a little odd-sounding, undeniably Ura.

_Senpai,_ it said, reasonably, _perhaps we should ask Haru-san what exactly is going on before we start flinging mud. Pots should not call kettles black, after all._

"What the hell does a pot have to do with any of this?" Momo grumbled, but they ended up looking back at Haru anyway, through narrowed eyes. "Okay, spill it. What's your problem?"

Haru swallowed. Then, very slowly, his arm raised and he pointed at them.

Or, rather, at a specific part of them. Momo looked down automatically, following the line of his finger, and –

Well, Ryoutarou wasn't sure what was wrong, because he looked just the same to him. But Momo _screamed_, sounding embarrassingly shrill, and immediately began – _groping_ his body, sticking his hand up his shirt and then _down his pants_ and oh god what was going _on_ –

"Mirror," Momo shrieked. "I need a mirror. _Now_!"

_Momo?_ he tried, but there was no response. Haru shook his head, looking bewildered.

"I don't have a mirror," he said. "But DenLiner's scheduled to stop in just a minute…shit, what are we going to tell Owner and Naoki?!"

From the other place in his mind, Ryoutarou could hear the other Imagin's voices in a steady chorus of _what what what what_, and when he tried talking to them, they just ignored him. He sat back (figuratively speaking), feeling a little hurt – why wouldn't they tell him what was wrong? And who the hell was _Naoki_?

Ten minutes later, he was sitting in the DenLiner dining car, more traumatized than he'd ever been in his _entire life_.

It had been a relief when he'd gotten on and seen Owner, standing there in the boarding hall and somehow managing to stare down his nose at him even though he was taller – but he was wonderfully and refreshingly _male_ (or at least he _looked_ male, anyway, Ryoutarou didn't really want to think about that). For a moment there he'd almost thought that maybe…

And then they'd entered the dining car, and Ryoutarou had…well, okay, he'd fainted again. But the sight of a six-foot tall, _bright pink_ oni would do that to _anyone_, he was certain.

He came to a few minutes later, stretched out on one of the seats, and again with a strange man leaning over him – he was sensing a pattern, here. This one was tall and elfin-faced, with a blue streak through his hair, and dressed in a shiny white uniform that put Ryoutarou in mind of a French waiter from space.

"Yay, he's up!" he said, clapping his hands like some kind of gay clown. He leapt away from Ryoutarou and twirled towards the counter with a flourish. "I'll make coffee to celebrate!"

Ryoutarou had the sinking feeling that he knew who Naoki was.

He sat up and looked around, his heart sinking as he came to the realization that his earlier suspicion had most likely been correct. Momo – well, he assumed it was Momo, anyway, since it looked exactly the same except…_pink_ – was sitting next to him, arms crossed and grumpy-looking. Ura was to his – her? Oh god, he really couldn't tell – left, leaning against the table with legs crossed, still blue but a little more…delicate-looking, somehow, with a shimmer to the scales. She – he was pretty sure it was a she at this point – moved her arm, and Ryoutarou saw a graceful arcing of fin running from her hand to her chest.

"So," she said, and her voice was definitely more feminine, now that he was actually _hearing_ it out loud. "This is certainly…very interesting."

"Shut up," Momo grumbled. She – well, Ryoutarou still wasn't certain, because it still _sounded_ like his Momo, just a little…smoother, somehow? More like pebbles instead of rocks. "Just – shut up! This isn't Ryoko!"

"We'd noticed," Ura said dryly. "For one thing –"

"It's a _boy_!" someone squeaked, and Ryoutarou turned to see – oh god, it was Ryuu, still with the big scary fangs and the glowing eyes and the nasty-looking spikes everywhere, but a delicate shade of _mauve_. There were _pigtails_. And – was that a bow?! Ryoutarou tried to faint and realized that no, he was _too traumatized_. This had officially passed weird and gone straight into downright _absurd_.

"Of course I'm a boy," he stammered, trying to cover his shock. He didn't do a very good job. "I've _always_ been a boy!"

Ryuu shrieked and giggled, bounding away as though he'd said something obscene. "Boys have _cooties_!" she declared cheerfully, and Ura put her face in her hands again.

Ryoutarou saw his chance to get a word in, and he said slowly, "Um…so…this Ryoko? She's…me? I mean, I'm supposed to be a girl – here?"

"You're _supposed_ to be," said a new voice, one that he recognized. He turned to see Haru, hands on his hips in a gesture that was _completely_ Hana and yet somehow not, glaring down at him. "It stands to reason, anyway. You had her Pass, and you kind of…" He tilted his head, studying him, and Ryoutarou suddenly felt deeply uncomfortable. "You kind of look like her. Like she might, if she were…you know."

"A boy?" Ryoutarou suggested. He got another glare for his efforts. "So how did this _happen_, anyway? This isn't…how I remember things."

"Hell if we know," Momo muttered. Ura rolled her eyes, or at least made a gesture that was like rolling her eyes – it was hard to tell, without irises or pupils – and Momo sank into an even surlier position. Ryoutarou boggled – they were so much like _his_ Momo and Ura, it was really kind of weird.

"We think – maybe the timeline was messed up somehow," Haru was saying, talking over them. "Like, maybe things were changed so…we remember _you_ as a girl, but you're a Singularity Point, so –"

"But you are, too," Ryoutarou interrupted, too surprised to remember his manners. "And I _definitely_ remember you as a girl!"

There was a deep, embarrassed silence. Then, very suddenly, both Momo and Ryuu burst out laughing, as Haru turned bright red.

"Haru as a girl!" Ryuu was shrieking, her voice even more high-pitched and annoying than the male Ryuu's. "As a _girl_! Can you imagine?"

"That's _rich_," Momo agreed, nearly choking on laughter. "The bird-brain as a _girl_. Does he wear _dresses_? And little frilly shoes?"

If this were Hana, Ryoutarou thought, she would have punched them both, multiple times. But it wasn't, and so he didn't – instead he just glowered, reminding Ryoutarou of Yuuto in one of his moods. Actually, now that he thought about it, he really _did_ remind him of Yuuto, in a way – something in the set of the jaw, maybe, or the tilt of the eyebrows, or the shape of the chin. It struck him as very odd for some reason, and he wondered why, of all people, a boy-version of Hana would remind him so much of _Sakurai Yuuto_ –

"Okay, let's start over," Haru said loudly, plunking himself down unceremoniously across from Ryoutarou. He dipped his head, just barely enough to be polite, and said, "Obviously we've gotten off on the wrong foot, here. We're going to need to cooperate to figure out what happened to Ryoko – if she turned into you, or if she's still…out there, somewhere, needing to be rescued."

Ryoutarou nodded, feeling a little better now. The world was still insane, but at least now it wasn't being actively hostile towards him. He gave him a polite nod and said, "Nougami Ryoutarou."

"That's a stupid name," Ryuu said, and Ura reached out and smacked her on the forehead. She clutched it and danced off towards Naoki, mock-crying.

"Haruka," Haru said, ignoring them entirely. He looked ill at ease, as though he'd like nothing better than to just punch Ryoutarou in the face and demand to know where Ryoko was again, but he was making the effort to be polite and Ryoutarou appreciated that. "Most people just call me Haru, though, because apparently three syllables is too much for them. Now," he continued, turning around to glare at Ryuu, "if some people would stop _crying_ long enough so that we can talk –"

"_Don't say that word_," Ura and Momo shouted, almost in perfect unison, but it was too late. There came a set of thundering footsteps, heading towards the door to the dining car, and it suddenly occurred to Ryoutarou that he hadn't actually seen Kin anywhere –

Her voice reached them before she did, big and booming and with an oddly throaty quality to it. "IS SOMEONE CRYING?" she demanded, taking big strides into the room. "AHA! THE ONLY THING THERE IS TO WEEP OVER IS _MY STRENGTH_!"

Ryoutarou _gaped_. Kin was – she was _pretty_, in a big-boned sort of way, tall and broad-shouldered with long, wavy golden hair flowing out from underneath her mask. She was wearing bits of glitzy-looking samurai armor, arranged in a frighteningly attractive way on her body, and she looked like nothing so much as an illustration of a Greek god gone horribly awry. He stared at her for a moment – and then his poor brain couldn't take it any more, and he passed out again, all over the seat.

* * *

Ryoko was doing her best not to cry. She'd already burst into tears in front of strangers once today, she wasn't going to do it again – but it was really, really difficult, with so many revelations about this strange – timeline, or alternate world, she wasn't sure which – each new surprise more horrible than the last.

First of all, Momo –Momo, who used to pick her up and give her noogies whenever she was feeling sad, who'd been like the big sister she hadn't had since Sakurai-san had disappeared – was a _boy_. In fact, _all_ the Imagin in this horrible place were boys, as she'd discovered once on the DenLiner. (Ura had actually told her he was a woman, but this was _Ura_, and she knew better than to believe him.) And they'd – they'd been in her _body_, they'd looked down her _shirt_ (thanks a lot, Momo) – the thought made her feel sick, and if she hadn't been so frightened of them, she probably would've run to the bathroom and thrown up.

At least they were leaving her alone, for the most part. Momo was on the other side of the car, his back to her, as far away from her as he could get. Ura, on the other hand, was hanging all over her – he was leering and making innuendos in what he obviously thought was a charming manner, and looking at him just made her miss _her_ Ura all the more. Ryuu had goggled at her for a minute, then made a fort with the seat cushions and hidden inside of it – thank god for two-second attention spans – and Kin…well, he'd introduced himself and then promptly fallen asleep, but he scared her. He was _huge_ and bulging with muscles and all she could think about when she looked at him was _he and Kin-chan would get along _so_ well_. They would, too; they would probably have fights to the death together, and then go out for milkshakes afterwards.

Owner – thankfully, blessedly _male_ Owner – had just looked at her, shrugged, and got back to his rice. Honestly, she didn't think he cared about _anything_ she did, so long as she had her Pass. And Naomi was almost a relief, bouncing around being sweet and bubbly and distributing drinks, not judging or staring at her or treating her like some kind of exhibit on display. Still, she made her feel sort of guilty and embarrassed, even though Naoki had shot down her confession _weeks_ ago and she should have been over it by now. (It taken her so long to get up the nerve to do it, after having a crush on him for _forever_. It was Yuuko who'd finally convinced her to do it; then she'd stood behind her the whole time and made encouraging little gestures while the Imagin, trying to help in their own way, had done a thoroughly embarrassing cheer routine. Haru had sat in the corner and just glared at them the whole time, but that was Haru for you.)

And then there was Hana. She wasn't sure how she felt about _her_. Sometimes she was just like Haru, sometimes she was someone else entirely – she'd freaked out when she first saw Ryoko, but once she'd gotten more used to the idea, she seemed to have become sort of…protective of her, in a weird way. She punched Ura until he went away, which astonished Ryoko entirely, and then sat down with her and patted her on the shoulder, assuring her that they'd definitely figure out what had happened and she shouldn't worry about any of those obnoxious Imagin because Hana would take care of them if they tried anything stupid. It was like if Haru had learned not to bottle up all his stupid emotions, and how to actually be _gentle_ about things. (And learned to stand up for himself against the Imagin, instead of just glaring and being passive-aggressive. Ryoko was sure that would've made a huge difference.) And honestly, Ryoko was _still_ sort of freaked out at what a pretty girl Haru made.

As for Yuuto – well. _That_ had been a disaster all on its own.

Nobody had been able to come up with anything – any reason for Ryoko to suddenly appear in this…_boy_-world, or any way to get her back, or anything other than staring at her and occasionally going 'boobs' — so they'd sent a message to ZeroLiner, hoping that they'd be able to add fresh insight to the matter. Only, they hadn't told Ryoko what to expect –

She'd been so excited, certain that finally, she'd find someone who'd be _nice_ to her and _understand_ her, that she could talk to. (Well, aside from Hana, who just kind of creeped her out.) Sure, Yuuko was a guy now, they'd confirmed that for her, but she couldn't have changed _that_ much, right? After all, Airi had been _awfully_ like her Niisan, and now that she was over the initial shock of Holy Crap Boy Versions, she could see her friends in them, under a layer of roughness and general masculinity. And of course, they were best friends, so Yuuko – Yuuto, she reminded herself – would be more than willing to do anything he could to help.

So when the trains had pulled up and they'd disembarked, she hadn't been able to stop herself. When Deneb had appeared – good old Deneb, who made them candy and mended her clothes without being asked – she'd thrown herself into his arms, starting to tear up again in relief.

"Deneb!" she wailed, clinging to his cape. Deneb flailed wildly, overbalanced, and nearly fell over with her on top of him, but managed to right himself at the last minute. He patted her awkwardly on the head and, somewhat confused by the whole thing, gave her a piece of candy; she was so relieved at something so familiar that when Yuuto scrambled off the deck, big and lanky and looking so much like her beloved best friend, she couldn't help herself, she just threw herself on top of him and sort of screamed a little.

Yuuto _had_ fallen over, and he'd taken her with him. They'd ended up with him flat on his back, her on top of him, chest smushed in his face like a scene right out of a dirty anime. There was an incredibly long, awkward moment of silence as Yuuto processed this, and then –

"NOUGAMI!" he bellowed, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her bodily off of him. Ryoko shrank back, terrified. Yuuko had _never_ yelled at her like this. "What the hell are you _doing_, have you gone totally _insane_, and what the hell is up with your _chest_ –"

Then he got a better look at her. Turned red, and dropped her. And then three seconds later he was twenty feet away and _still running_, screaming his head off as he went.

Apparently they hadn't told _him_ what to expect, either.


	4. Chapter 3

Yuuto was certain that he'd gone insane. Finally, totally, certifiably insane.

"You couldn't have _told me_?!" he was shouting, raging around the dining car. He wanted to _hit_ something, to kick and pound things and tear the entire train apart – but he restrained himself, and instead whacked Deneb across the face a few times. "All you said was that something weird had happened, you didn't tell me Nougami was a – that he had –"

He pointed a shaking finger at Nougami, who was sideways in one of the seats, pressed against the wall and trembling violently, because Nougami in any incarnation was a _fucking pussy_. …Well, maybe even moreso now, given that he actually _had_ a –

The next thing he knew he was halfway across the car, Hana's fist embedded so far into his solar plexus that he wasn't sure they'd be able to get it back out again.

"You _shut up_!" she screamed, and punched him again for good measure. Nougami screamed like a – well, a girl – and leapt up, and Yuuto had the terrifying thought that she was going to try jumping between them or something else stupid like that. Fortunately, though, her sudden movement had distracted Hana, and gave him the opportunity to scramble away from them and plant himself firmly behind Deneb. Manly pride meant _nothing_ when it came to Hana on a rampage. Hell, she probably didn't even really count as a girl – a _stampeding girl-shaped rhinoceros_ was a far more accurate description.

Unlike Nougami. Who was now completely, utterly a _girl_. Yuuto couldn't look at her without wanting to scream and run away again. It just didn't _work_.

"Don't fight," Nougami said tearfully. Yuuto stared at her in horror – was she going to cry?! Oh god, the only thing that could _possibly_ make this situation any _worse_ would be if girl-Nougami started to _cry_. Yuuto had no idea how to handle crying women, especially crying women who used to be _men_.

"Please don't be upset," he said desperately, before he could stop himself. Suddenly he was aware that everyone was staring at him – Hana, all the Imagin, even Naomi, but _especially_ stupid fucking _Nougami_. He could feel his face growing red, but at least she didn't look like she was going to burst into tears anymore. No, now she just looked like she thought he was an _idiot_.

"I mean," he continued, trying to salvage the situation, "look, um, I just – I'm here to help you guys fix this thing, okay? So let's –"

"Apologize to Ryoko," Hana demanded. Yuuto stared at her like she'd grown three heads.

"For _what_?" he said incredulously. "Nobody told me Nougami was gonna have _boobs_!"

"Apologize for _scaring her_, you big stupid _oaf_!" she shouted. Nougami winced and clapped her hands over her ears, but Hana was too busy crusading in her name to notice that she was _scaring her even more_. "She's _delicate_!"

"Nougami's _always_ been fucking _delicate_, he's got no _spine_ –"

"OI!" That time, it was Momo, suddenly leaping up to jab a stupid red finger in his face. "You can say whatever you want about – _her_ – but you leave Ryoutarou out of this!"

Hana looked like she was about to explode. Secretly, Yuuto hoped she _did_. "WHAT!" she shrieked, even louder than Momo had. "So she's not worth protecting because she's not a _boy_, is that it? You _pig_!"

"I never said that!" Momo protested, but it was too late. Hana jumped on him, fists waving, and Yuuto went down with them; Deneb flailed stupidly around them, shouting Yuuto's name and trying to drag him out but _totally failing_. Then the next thing he knew, he was flat on his back on the floor, Hana and Momo suspended above his head, the big stupid yellow one holding both of them by the collar.

"STOP!" he bellowed, giving them both an extremely stern stare (or at least it _looked_ like he was, Yuuto couldn't tell through the mask). "YOU – ARE – NOT – HELPING!"

If there was one thing Yuuto could say about Ryoko, it was that she didn't seem to faint as easily as Ryoutarou. No, instead she _cried_. At least she was being quiet about it, not sobbing or anything – although it was somehow _worse_ seeing the tears slipping silently down her cheeks, her face a picture of misery…

Yuuto really, _really_ wished they'd told him about this beforehand. Then maybe she wouldn't have _messed it all up_ by jumping on him when he wasn't _prepared_ or anything to see Nougami all tiny and cute and with _curves_.

And she _was_ cute, in a way that Yuuto _really_ didn't want to admit but was sort of forced to anyway. She was even shorter than boy-Nougami had been, and her hair was long and straight and very thick, and her face – it struck him that she looked like Airi. Not exactly like her, she still looked like Nougami, _overwhelmingly_ like Nougami, because the world wasn't freaky enough already, just…something in the roundness of her face, the narrowness of her mouth…it reminded him suddenly and heartwrenchingly of _Airi_.

In the background, Kin was giving Hana and Momo a long, _extremely loud_ lecture on Why You Should Not Make Sweet Young Girls Cry, but Yuuto wasn't listening. Instead he moved out from behind Deneb – and _thank god_ Deneb occasionally knew when to _shut up_ because he didn't say anything, just moved out of the way for him – and went over to stupid Nougami with her stupid tears and her stupid, _stupid_ face, and he held out his hand to help her up.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and Yuuto growled in annoyance because _what the hell_ did she have to be _sorry_ about, it wasn't _her_ fault Hana was a crazy bitch who liked to hurt people for _no good reason_. She seemed to take it the wrong way, though, and instead shrank further back into the seat with a little whimper.

Yuuto shoved his hand impatiently at her, waiting for her to _take it_ and stop – making him feel so uncomfortable by staring up at him with those big brown eyes and _oh shit_ he was _not_ supposed to feel this way about _any_ incarnation of Nougami, even a tiny little girl one who looked like Airi.

"Just – stop being an idiot," he muttered, not really able to look at her anymore. Of course then she went and took his hand, and he forgot he wasn't going to look at her and – she even _smiled_ like Airi, with that little curve to her mouth, and Yuuto began to feel just a little bit _frantic_. Did Nougami smile like that when he was a _boy_? Or was this just more proof that Nougami had been placed upon this earth for the sole purpose of _making him suffer_?

"Thanks," she said, pulling herself to her feet. "I…I'm sorry for jumping on you. Earlier." She swallowed, looking nervous. "I…Yuuko and I – I mean, the way I remember you – we were friends. I wasn't expecting –"

"_Yuuko_?" Yuuto burst out, the rest of her speech falling to the wayside (even as a little part of him went _huh, so it _is_ possible for there to be a universe where Nougami and I get along_). "You mean – in your stupid _girl-time_ – I'm a –"

"I'm sorry!" Nougami squeaked, and Yuuto suddenly realized that _that_ was what he really _hated_ about Nougami, the way he'd always fucking _apologize_ rather than stand up for himself in _any possible way_. Even when it wasn't his _fault_.

Then again, if the alternative was becoming a _harpy bitch from hell_ like Hana, he could maybe understand it. Just a little.

"I'm a _girl_," he muttered, the shock of it railing over him like a ton of fucking _bricks_. "A fucking _girl_. …What the hell?!"

Nougami turned scarlet. She fidgeted, pulling at the hem of her skirt like she was some stupid schoolgirl out of a _cartoon_, and said, "…Well, so is everyone else. Sort of. Most of them?" She looked around the car in distress, as though expecting someone to come and help her out on this insane little speech. "I mean. The Imagin…"

Yuuto's brain proceeded to explode in slow-motion. His jaw dropped, and all he could do was just _stare_ in complete, total, one-hundred-percent _horror_ at Deneb – images passed unbidden through his mind, of a Deneb that was buxom and probably wore a maid's outfit or something equally disturbing, and it was all he could do not to _throw up_ right then and there.

"Oh my," Deneb said, in a way that might've been coy if it'd been _anyone else_. Nougami's face did an alarming impression of a fire truck.

"Not Deneb!" she said hastily, and Yuuto was gratified to see that she seemed _just as traumatized_ by the thought. "Oh my god, no, not Deneb! No offense," she added hastily. Deneb cheerfully reassured her that there was none taken, and pressed more candy on her for good measure. "…Thanks. But I mean, like. Momo, and Ura, and Kin –"

She started to say 'and Ryuu', but just then Momo _screamed_ like a first-grader and flailed up to them again.

"I'm a _girl_?!" he screamed, and Yuuto hoped desperately that Nougami would not freaking _cry_ again. He didn't think he could take it. "I'm a fucking _girl_?! No! That doesn't _work_! I refuse to believe that I could ever, in any universe, possibly be a –"

"Momo, _stop it_!" said a voice, and for a moment Yuuto thought it was Hana, until he realized she was on the other side of the car and looked just as shocked as everyone else. He turned and stared at _fucking Nougami_, who had her hands clapped over her mouth and looked like she'd just said something rude in extremely conservative company.

Momo, amazingly enough, shut the fuck up. Yuuto began to think that maybe girl-Nougami had some spine after all – at least, she had more than the boy-Nougami had _ever shown in the history of ever_.

"Sorry," she whispered, because any and all versions of Nougami everywhere were still pathetic wimps at heart. "I mean…sorry. I sort of forgot…" She smiled suddenly, looking almost rueful, and Yuuto's heart skipped a beat – and then another one when he realized _oh god what was his body doing didn't it know this was fucking Nougami_. "She yells like that too, you know. She acts a lot like you in – in general, really…"

Momo seemed to have calmed down by now, because all he did was mutter, "Huh." He was very pointedly not looking at Nougami now, instead staring at his feet as though they were the most interesting things in the entire world.

"And," Nougami continued, because apparently she didn't know when to _shut up_, "Hana-san and Naomi-san – well." She _blushed_, she actually fucking _blushed_, and it was entirely worth the entire thing just to see Hana's expression right then. Naomi didn't seem to be affected though.

"Ooh!" she giggled. "Are we cute? Do I have a girlfriend? Is _Owner_ my girlfriend? Are we _married_? Do I –"

"Oh _gross_," Hana shrieked. Nougami looked pretty freaked out, too, and just gibbered something that sounded suspiciously like 'oh god no no no bad images never be clean again'. Yuuto was feeling pretty unclean himself at this point – he knew with a deep certainty that he could get in the bath tonight and scrub and scrub and scrub, but he would _never be clean again_.

The other Imagin weren't being quite so mature about this. Ryuu exploded out of his fort, screeching "eww!"; Momo made retching noises, and even Ura looked green around the gills. Kin had fallen asleep again, but that was for the best, Yuuto decided; it was better than _even more chaos_.

He positioned himself firmly behind Deneb again, just in case someone started throwing stuff; for a moment it looked like Momo was going to, and he'd even picked up a table when suddenly –

"That's _enough_," Owner said firmly, and suddenly, it was over.

Momo dropped the table; Naomi scurried back behind the bar; and everyone else slid into booths without looking at each other. Including Yuuto, even though he wasn't entirely sure why – all he knew was that he did _not_ want to see Owner when he got mad, or even vaguely irritated. Apparently neither did anyone else.

Owner glared at them all like a stern headmaster overseeing a class of unruly kids, and folded his hands in front of him.

"I believe," he said, "that the reason we called Sakurai Yuuto here was so that we could find a way to resolve this…" He eyed Nougami thoughtfully; she squirmed in her seat. "…situation. Therefore, before we waste any more time, perhaps we should inform him of the _entire_ situation."

He sat down again, nodding vaguely in their direction. "Miss Nougami. If you will tell us your entire story, from the beginning, without leaving anything out?"

Nougami looked shocked, as though actually _explaining_ things had never occurred to her. (Then again, it hadn't occurred to _anyone else_, or they would never have been in this stupid situation in the _first place_.) She stared up at Yuuto, her eyes framed by thick dark lashes, lips in a cute little pout, and oh fuck he _really_ needed to just _get a grip on himself_ before something truly horrific happened. He forced himself to stare at the table instead of her, listening intently as she cleared her throat.

"Well," she said slowly, "first there was this Imagin…"

* * *

"_Yuuko_," Ryoutarou said flatly. Haru stared at him.

"What?" he demanded, and then suddenly it occurred to him. "Oh, wait, is she a – oh, ew, is _everyone_ a dude where you come from?! That's disgusting."

"_You're_ a girl there, you stupid bird-head," Momo reminded him, in typical Momo fashion. Haru's permanent glower got even worse, and he slumped forward in his seat. Ryoutarou very nearly told him to sit up straight, just because his back was aching in sympathy already.

"I think I'd like Haru-head better as a girl," Ryuu stage-whispered, and waves of pure fury began to radiate from Haru's direction. The other Imagin grinned and started to laugh; Ryoutarou, being not completely stupid, hurriedly interrupted again.

"So – Sakurai Yuuko," he said, and the name felt strange and horrifying in his mouth, "is _on board_? Right now?!" He stared around the car in terror, half-expecting a random female Yuuto to leap out at him any second. (In his mind, she looked exactly the same as Yuuto, only she was wearing a very short skirt. This was further proof that Ryoutarou's mind hated him and wanted him to die of fright before he turned twenty.)

"She went to talk to Owner while you were still passed out," Ura said, crossing her legs as elegantly as a giant blue turtle-lady could. She sipped from the glass of wine in her hand; it had been Naoki who'd supplied her with it, so there was a generous helping of neon-blue whipped cream on top. Ryoutarou politely did not mention that she now had a creamy neon-blue mustache. "He's briefing her on the situation. We thought – well, _I_ thought, as I am the only one with any real common sense around here – that it would be best to warn her before she saw you in your…current condition."

"Because you're a _dude_," Momo said, just in case Ryoutarou hadn't noticed. _She_ had a beer – this had confused him, because he was pretty sure that Naomi didn't serve alcohol, but her male counterpart seemed to be more of a bartender than a coffee server. He'd tried to give Ryoutarou a martini about five times now, despite his insistances that he was underage, and frankly it was starting to creep him out.

"With _boy parts_," Ryuu chimed in. She bounced up and down enthusiastically, clapping her hands as though this were the greatest thing in the world. "It's so _groooooooooss_! Can I see them?"

Ryoutarou had sort of expected this – he was starting to get the hang of the girl-Ryuu, a phrase he had never in his life _ever_ expected to cross his mind – and so he didn't faint this time, although he did swoon very slightly out of reflex. Haru didn't seem to do as well, though, and actually fell out of his seat shrieking and waving his arms like a crazy person.

"Nobody wants to see that!" he spluttered, turning bright red. "I mean – it's nothing _I've_ never seen before, but – but oh my god are you _serious_ and –"

"Don't hurt yourself," Ura said dryly, dabbing at her mouth (mandible?) with a napkin. Haru kept gibbering, although it faded off into useless whimpering noises – which turned out to be a good thing, because at that moment, the door slid open and Sakurai Yuuko walked in.

Ryoutarou entirely failed to pass out, and was more shocked than anyone else by this. He suspected it was because the sight was actually _too traumatizing_; this went straight into the downright _surreal_.

After all, he hadn't expected her to _actually_ look – well, exactly like Yuuto, except in a very short skirt! There was a _halter top_. Oh lord.

He cast his gaze downwards, caught a glimpse of platform wedges, and immediately stared back up at her face. It was like looking at a trainwreck – it was horrific and yet oddly compelling, and he just couldn't look away…

"Hey there," Yuuko said, and Ryoutarou realized with a jolt that the absolutely scariest part of it wasn't that Yuuko was apparently just Yuuto in drag – no, it was that she was _smiling_ at him. Warmly, even. He'd never, ever seen that expression on Yuuto's face, let alone directed at _him_, and it was even weirder and more absurd than the fact that Yuuto had very nice legs.

He opened his mouth to say something – anything – but all that came out was a freakish squawking noise. Yuuko laughed and leaned back, hands on her – his?! – hips.

"Wow," she said (and it was definitely a she, he realized; either that or he'd swallowed helium). "You actually make a pretty cute guy, Ryoko! Sorry, you're Ryoutarou, right? Huh, you don't look like I expected you would!"

_That makes two of us,_ Ryoutarou thought numbly. He shrugged mutely, still trying to process the idea that Yuuto – even a weird, female version of him – was actually being _civil_ to him. His brain kept giving him error messages.

"Actually," Yuuko continued, and her voice had gotten all soft and happy in a way that really, _really_ scared him, "you remind me of Ashiri. I mean, you look like Ryoko – but I can see him in you, too. It's weird…" She laughed again, but it sounded somewhat self-conscious this time, and when she spoke again she was back to the overly-perky tone she'd had before. "Oh, geeze, and I didn't even think about how weird this must be for _you_! I look totally different, don't I? I hope it's not too much of a shock!"

Ryoutarou made a tiny croaking noise. He hoped it sounded noncommittal enough, because he _really_ couldn't make his voice work right now. Yuuko seemed to accept it, though, and grinned merrily at him.

"Am I cute?" she asked, and thankfully didn't give him a chance to answer – holy hell, even the kinder, grown-up Sakurai-san hadn't been so _talkative_, even when the conversation turned to constellations. "Ha, never mind, just kidding! Man, Ryoko's lucky – I wish _I'd_ gotten sucked into the alternate everyone's-a-hot-guy universe!"

"Haru's a _girl_ in that world," Ryuu pointed out gleefully. Yuuko laughed and poked her playfully in the snout; Ryoutarou stood frozen at the sight of what appeared, for all intents and purposes, to be Yuuto in drag and _having fun_.

"Bad timing, though," she said cheerfully. "I had a date tonight. I'm sure he'll understand –"

"A _what_?!" Ryoutarou yelped, before he could stop himself. "Did you just say –"

"Oh, don't get me wrong!" Yuuko suddenly looked frantic, staring at him wide-eyed in a way that he would have found funny had his mind not been _physically breaking_. "It's nothing like _that_ – he was just so earnest about it, I would've felt so bad turning him down, and I figured one date couldn't hurt – I'm not giving up on Ashiri, don't worry!"

Forget everything else – at this point, they could stick a big pink bow on the Den-Liner, and this would _still_ be the most traumatizing thing Ryoutarou had _ever experienced_. He would have nightmares about this forever more, he was absolutely sure of it.

_Please let me faint,_ he begged the gods, none of whom appeared to be listening. _I swear, I'll drink everything Neesan gives me and always go to bed on time and never fight with Momo ever again, just let me fade into sweet darkness _right now_, please…_

It was not to be. Ryoutarou was forced to sit there and stare in silent horror as Yuuko went around and – _hugged_ every single Imagin, and then Owner, and then giggled and waved shyly at Naoki. Then, just because Ryoutarou truly was the unluckiest person alive, she opened the door again and called out, "Deneb!"

_Deneb_?! Oh god he'd forgotten about Deneb. Oh god, what would she be like? Ryoutarou hoped she'd at least be as nice as he was in _his_ world, or…timeline, or whatever. He held on to that thought, refusing to let go of it, to let images of what a female Deneb could possibly look like cross his mind – oh damnit, there they went, _there they went_…

Deneb – oh thank god, apparently Owner wasn't the only one who was still a guy; Ryoutarou's sanity was safe for another day – came running wildly into the car, crashed straight into Yuuko, and knocked her over. She landed flat on her back, Deneb half on top of her, and Ryoutarou cringed – not even this sweet, sunshiney girl could possibly _not_ get mad at him for that. Yuuto getting mad at Deneb was a – a _given_, something that kept the universe together, like duct-tape; she was probably going to yell now and Deneb would get all flustered and make it worse and Ryoutarou would have no idea what to do and –

"Oh, you big _silly_," Yuuko laughed. Apparently she did a lot of that. She pulled herself upward (Ryoutarou was a virtuous lad in general, but he had never, _ever_ been happier not to catch a look up a girl's skirt) and then actually _helped Deneb up_, dusting off his cape and giving him a hug for good measure.

"Say hi to Ryoutarou," she said cheerfully, and Deneb bowed so low his forehead nearly scraped the floor. Ryoutarou bowed back, not quite as low – he didn't think his knees could handle it – and waved awkwardly. It was like this had gone from girl-world straight into opposite-world, and if he'd thought _girl-Momo_ was bad… "Oh, hey, do you have any candy on you? Ryoutarou, does he make candy where you're from? Isn't it _delicious_?"

"Well," Ryoutarou stammered, his brain starting to overheat. He'd been pretty proud of how well he was holding up so far, considering, but this was just _too much_. Next thing you know she'd be saying –

"And then later you have _got_ to try his shiitake alfredo salad, it is to _die_ for!"

"Oh thank god," Ryoutarou said as the familiar feeling of dizziness overtook him, and he passed out right into Yuuko's lap.


	5. Chapter 4

Ryoko was still, somewhere deep inside, hoping that this was all a horrible dream. Any minute now she'd wake up in her own bed, and Ashiri would scold her for sleeping in too late, and the Imagin would whine and fight about whose turn it was to use her body while she was doing her errands, and then…

"The _train_ got attacked by an Imagin?" Yuuto was saying in disbelief. "That's not even _possible_! And it died the second you even _touched_ it?"

She nodded silently, staring down at the table. It was still hard to look at him – he just looked so much like Yuuko, only he didn't smile like she did, or laugh like she did, or…well, aside from their faces, he wasn't like her at all! She felt like crying again. This whole place was so strange and awful and nobody even seemed to like her, except for Hana. And even she would give her strange looks sometimes, like she expected her to suddenly turn into this Ryoutarou, or something…

"Wait a minute," Hana said, and Ryoko nearly jumped, half-convinced she'd said something out loud by accident. "That's exactly what happened _here_, too. It was a cat, right?"

Ryoko look up again in surprise. She hadn't even thought to ask if this had happened in their world – she'd been so focused on everyone who was different, she hadn't thought about every _thing_ that might've been, too…

"Yes," she said slowly, "It was in the driver's cab…" Hana nodded, and the feeling of dread that had been sitting in Ryoko's stomach worsened. "And it just _dissolved_ when Momo hit it. She didn't even hit it very hard…"

Hana, Yuuto, and Ura all exchanged glances. (Kin was asleep, Ryuu was coloring something at his own table, and Momo just didn't seem to get it.) Ryoko felt suddenly even more of an outcast than she already was.

"Ryoko-chan," Hana said carefully – Ryoko didn't remember giving her permission to call her that, but she didn't feel like protesting right now. "Who was the one who gave you the Rider Pass?"

Ryoko stared at her. How was this relevant? But everyone seemed to be waiting for an answer, even Yuuto, so she said, "It was Haru-san. Well, I mean, he dropped it, and I picked it up –"

"When did you get Climax Form?" Hana interrupted. Ryoko blinked.

"Um – August 12th, I think? When we were fighting the Bloodsucker, and we thought everyone except Momo had faded away. Why is this –"

"What did you have for breakfast this morning?" Momo demanded loudly. Everyone turned to stare at him, and he scowled – well, he did the Momo equivalent of a scowl, anyway. "What? It's about as useless as everything else you're asking! We _know_ all this already!"

"You _idiot_," Hana said, at the same time as a thoroughly-bewildered Ryoko said, "Cornflakes?"

"Senpai," Ura sighed, "we are _trying_ to figure out if the events in Ryoko's world are parallel to ours – which they do indeed appear to be. Inane questions about cornflakes are totally irrelevant."

"What the hell does that mean?" Momo growled. He lunged forward; Ura reached out and casually put a hand on his forehead, holding him in place. Momo shrieked and waved his arms about, yelling obscenities, and Ryoko thought that their worlds were probably more parallel than they realized. This was exactly what _her_ Momo and Ura would do…

"What about cornflakes?" Kin grumbled, apparently having been roused by Momo's screaming. "Did she say we had cornflakes for breakfast?"

There was a short pause, and Momo's yells trailed off as all the Imagin grew quiet (save for Ryuu, who was still humming to himself as he finished his crayon masterpiece). Hana and Yuuto looked utterly perplexed; actually, Yuuto looked sort of annoyed, but that seemed to be his default expression.

Ryoko missed Yuuko even more now. _She_ wouldn't have interrogated her – she would've smiled and joked around and made her feel like they had a chance of reversing this weird…whatever had happened. Yuuto was acting like…like _Haru_, with his glowers and scowls and sniping. Actually, the resemblance was startling, now that she thought about it – they even _glared_ in the same way, the same little furrows running down their foreheads as their eyebrows knit together. If she didn't know better, she'd swear that maybe…

"But we didn't, did we," Ura said – softly, but it was enough to snap Ryoko back to reality. She looked around at them all, totally lost. She wasn't the only one, either.

"Didn't _what_?" Yuuto said in exasperation. "Does somebody want to share this with the class? Who gives a _flying fuck_ what Nougami had for breakfast?!"

"It was pancakes!" Ryuu said suddenly, waving his arm in the air like a demented schoolchild. "I got to eat breakfast this morning 'cause Ryoutarou overslept, so I asked Neesan to make pancakes and they were _awesome_! I had _syrup_!"

"The peanut gallery is correct," Ura said, cutting him off before he could wax lyrical about the syrup. "So obviously, things are not as parallel as we imagined."

"But – it was breakfast," Ryoko said blankly. "Why does that even –"

"_Everything_ matters," Ura insisted. He slid into the seat across from her, knocking Yuuto out of the way, and leaned in very close. _Way_ too close. "I think it is _very important_ that we go over every single difference in our worlds. It could be the key to figuring this all out. Now, don't leave out a _single_ detail…"

"…as you tell _me_," Hana said, and she punched Ura unceremoniously in the head. Ryoko shrank farther back into the seat, although she was getting used to this sort of thing now; she was no longer as terrified by Hana's random acts of violence as she had been.

Instead she took a deep breath, prepared herself for an interrogation, and said, "Where should I start?"

Half an hour later, she was really wishing she hadn't gone along with this after all. It felt like they'd gone over every single detail of her life, from the moment she'd gotten the Pass to right now – they'd even touched on Sakurai-san's disappearance, but Yuuto had managed to get even _surlier_ when that came up, so she'd kept it as brief as possible.

Ura had joined in a few times with questions of his own, but she'd stopped answering once she realized he was building up to "and what color are your panties". She'd felt no remorse when Hana had removed one of her socks and physically stuffed it into his mouth, and even less when he gagged on it.

"Have we figured _anything_ out yet?" Momo snapped finally, as Ura coughed up lint. "Anything other than that the turtle is a stupid pervert, and everything in her stupid world is _exactly the same_?"

"Not _everything_," Hana corrected. She bit her lip thoughtfully. "So far it sounds like all the big stuff is the same – like, when she made your contracts and when…" She glanced over at Yuuto and grimaced. "…when _Zeronos_ showed up. But small every day stuff is different…"

"Does it _matter_?" Yuuto said, sounding utterly bored already. "I don't think we've really established anything, you know, _actually important_ here. We still don't know how this happened, or how to get her back, or anything that could _actually be even slightly helpful at all_!"

"_I_ think it's important!" Hana shot back. "We need to know as much as possible so we can figure out if this is even just some weird alternate timeline or not, and then –"

"And _then what_?" Yuuto demanded. He and Hana were face-to-face now, and Hana's hands were starting to curl into fists. "Face it, we've just gone and _wasted_ all our time here! We're not accomplishing _anything_!"

"Fine!" Hana shouted. "If you're so smart, what do _you_ think we should do?"

Yuuto turned red. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "But I know that we should actually be _doing_ something, instead of sitting here and – and asking her what color her fucking underwear is!"

"If I recall, I never actually got an answer to that question," Ura said. Hana's fist flew out and hit him in the face, without her actually turning to look at him.

"I'm just _saying_, I think we need to actually have a _plan of action_ instead of just sitting around and _chatting_ about stupid inane stuff," Yuuto snapped. Hana took a deep breath, looking ready to yell –

"Stop it!" Ryoko shouted, before she even really knew what she was doing. Everyone turned to stare at her, and she continued on in a rush before she could lose her courage. "Just – please stop it, both of you! Nobody here knows what's going on, so fighting is just wasting even _more_ time than anything else!"

She fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat. Nobody said anything, so – more hesitantly this time – she continued, "I just want to go home. Maybe if you just drop me off – I don't know, but that's how I got _into_ this mess in the first place, and maybe things will just…you know…fix themselves. Somehow."

"That's a good idea," Hana said after a moment. Ryoko was surprised – she thought it was a _terrible_ idea. Nothing ever worked out like that, not for _her_, and the only reason she'd suggested it was because she just wanted to get off of this train and away from their fighting. "I mean, at least to get off Den-Liner. Even if it doesn't work, there might be some clue or something that we're not finding by just sitting around."

"See," Yuuto muttered, "it takes her _two seconds_ to come up with a better idea than you've had in the past _two hours_."

"Like _you've_ been any help," Hana grumbled, but she seemed determined to ignore him now. Instead she gave Ryoko a smile – it looked very forced – and said, in what was probably supposed to be a soothing tone, "We'll drop you off at Milk Dipper, okay? We're scheduled to stop there in about ten minutes anyway."

Ryoko nodded dumbly. At least Hana seemed to share Haru's inexplicable ability to commit Den-Liner's schedule to memory. (She'd looked at it once; it had been moving as she stared at it, places and times shifting themselves around and occasionally overlapping, and she'd gone away with a headache. Haru had tried to explain it to her, but his rambling explanations had made even less sense than the schedule itself had, and Ryoko had given up on ever understanding anything about this train ever.)

"I'll just…wait in the hall," she said, suddenly feeling extremely worn out. She didn't want to be around these…_strangers_ any longer than she had to. Nobody stopped her as she shuffled out, and for that she was incredibly grateful.

She sat down, her back against the wall, and curled up with her knees against her chest. She'd never, _ever_ been as homesick as she was now – not even just homesick, but _everything_sick. She missed her brother, and her friends, and even Miura and Ozaki and their obnoxious fighting. She'd give anything to be able to just walk right into Milk Dipper and see them sitting there like vultures, hovering over Ashiri as he shoved some disgusting concoction in her face that was supposed to make her toenails stronger, or something else stupid like that…

She'd told herself she wasn't going to cry again, but now she just couldn't help it.

It took about five minutes, but she felt better at the end of it, although her nose was running and her face was all red and covered in tearstains. Her handkerchief had gotten lost somewhere – this happened about twice a day, she was used to it – so she turned the sleeve of her sweater inside out and used that instead, hoping it wouldn't be too obvious from the other side.

_Okay,_ she told herself firmly, _don't worry about this. We _will_ figure this out. And who knows, maybe when I get off the train, I really _will_ be back home, and this'll all just be like a bad dream…_

She sighed and buried her face in her hands. Even _she_ didn't believe herself. How could they possibly get through this when even _she_ –

The door slid open, and she nearly screamed in surprise. Ryuu poked his head out into the hallway, and gave her a friendly wave.

"Did I scare you?" he asked gleefully. Ryoko just stared at him as he came the rest of the way out, shutting the door behind him and plunking himself down next to her.

He was smiling, or at least what passed for a smile on his face – it looked more like he wanted to tear her face off and eat her brains – and Ryoko smiled back hesitantly. This seemed to encourage him, because he said happily, "I like you! You're funny and short and you kinda look like Oneechan. So I drew you a picture!"

She hadn't even noticed it, but he'd been holding a piece of paper, and now he held it up to show her. It was colorful – _excessively_ colorful – and it took her a moment to realize what it even was.

"I thought you might wanna know what you look like as a boy," he said, pointing to the figure in the middle. "So that's Ryoutarou! You're next to him so you can see how much taller he is, and also that you've got nicer hair, and you look better in a skirt. And this is Oneechan over here, because I like drawing her, and she's got a flower 'cause flowers and pretty and so is she, and…"

Ryoko's smile got bigger as he went on. He wasn't her Ryuu, but he was…sort of sweet, in a very Ryuu-like way, and he meant well.

She studied the picture of Ryoutarou – how stupid, she realized, that she'd never even thought about _him_, and what he must be going through. If they really had just sort of…changed places…then how weird must it be for _him_, when he was used to all _this_? At least she had Hana, who was sort of on her side; she couldn't imagine Haru being so friendly, even to another boy. And she didn't even know what _Yuuko_ would think…

"—and they told me not to bother you 'cause you wanted to be alone, but you're leaving in like two minutes and I didn't wanna wait to show you in case you do end up going home once you get off," Ryuu was saying. He still sounded flippant, but she could hear the little undertone of uncertainty there; somewhere in there, she realized, he was worried because she hadn't said anything yet. Geeze, either she really did look like Ryoutarou's sister, or he was more different from her Ryuu than she'd thought – she couldn't imagine her caring about anyone except Ashiri…

"Thank you," she whispered. "I'm glad you showed me – it's a great picture. I'm kind of cute as a boy, aren't I?"

"Ew, _gross_," Ryuu said, his snout actually wrinkling in disgust. Ryoko laughed.

She _was_ glad he'd come out – she'd needed this, just…some little act of kindness, even if Ryuu hadn't meant it as one, to get her mind out of this spiral of depression. The people here weren't being cruel to her, they were just as scared as she was; and they didn't even know what had happened to their Ryoutarou. She hoped suddenly that he _was_ there, in her world or timeline or whatever it was – at least then they might be able to figure out what happened to _her_. It would be so much worse if she'd just disappeared without a trace, like Sakurai-san had…

Things would be all right. They'd get through this somehow. She was starting to believe it now, as the train started to pull in, and Ryuu warned her not to fold the paper or she'd crease it.

"I got it," she told him, with what was probably her first real smile all day. Then the doors opened, and she closed her eyes – it was a stupid and irrational hope, that she was suddenly back home in her own world, but she was going to hold onto it for as long as she could – and stepped off the train.

Very carefully, she opened her eyes a crack. She was right in front of Milk Dipper, like Hana had said, and she could smell the brewing coffee through the door. It was her brother's special blend, the scent that her brain associated completely and unequivocably with _Ashiri_, and for a moment she thought she really was back –

_Did it work?_ Momo's voice said in her head, and Ryoko's heart sank. It was still the wrong tone, still the wrong Momo, still the wrong _everything_.

"No," she sighed, fighting the urge to cry again, especially so soon after she'd just had a good crying fit. She hated how easily she cried – she'd gotten teased all through school for it – but she just couldn't seem to stop herself, the tears forcing their way through her eyelids before she could even tell her body to cut it out… "I guess we're back at square one. We'll have to think of something else to –"

Someone reached out and grabbed her from behind, lifting her into the air. Ryoko _screamed_ and tried to get away, but their grip was too strong, and they were too big and their hooves were too –

Wait, _hooves_?

"Shut up," the Imagin growled into her ear. Ryoko shut up, too shocked to do anything else – why was an Imagin attacking her?! They'd never outright gone after her before, or at least not until she'd attacked them first –

Then she saw the boy in front of them. He was young, his high-school uniform still too big on him, and he was sitting on his behind in a pile of sand with a look of horror on his face.

"Look," he said in a shaking voice, "when I said I wanted to see a girl naked, I didn't mean –"

"You wanted to _what_?!" Ryoko shrieked, just as the Imagin grabbed the front of her shirt and _tore_. The boy immediately covered his hands with his eyes, but she knew he'd already seen; what was worse, there were people passing by, and oh god, man-Ozaki had just run out of Milk Dipper and oh _shit_ there went her skirt…

_Ah,_ said Ura, as scraps of her clothing fluttered to the ground. _So they were white. How…cute._

_Cute?!_ Momo screamed. _I'm gonna kill you, you bastard – this is _not_ the time –_

Idly, somewhere in the back of her mind, Ryoko realized she wasn't crying. She'd expected to, but no, she was just _horribly embarrassed_, and really starting to hurt from where the Imagin was holding her…

As if on cue, the Imagin dropped her, and headed towards the boy instead. He didn't seem to have any interest in her now that she'd served her purpose – she'd probably just been the first girl he'd seen, or something. On the one hand, it was a relief; it meant she hadn't been targeted specifically. On the other hand…

"Oh – it's you. Oh dear," Ozaki said, making a show of averting his eyes. He'd turned very red, and if she hadn't been wishing she could just sink into the ground and die right then, she probably would've found it funny. "Here – look, here's my coat, and, uh, my number…"

"What?" Ryoko said stupidly, but she accepted the coat anyway, and the business card along with it. The thing hadn't torn her clothes completely off, just open down the middle, so zipping it up rendered her mostly decent. It was long enough that it covered her ruined skirt, anyway, and a pocket to shove Ryuu's drawing into (while ignoring his whining about how she was _crumpling_ it).

_That was my favorite sweater,_ she thought sadly, but they had other priorities – namely, the Imagin that had just disappeared, right into the boy's memories. She ran over to him, pulling out her Pass as she went.

_Okay, look,_ Momo said, suddenly sounding awkward. _Not that I don't want to kick some ass, but…the thing is, are we gonna be able to fight? I mean, like this?_

"You possessed me before, didn't you?" Ryoko muttered, as the card appeared. Truth be told, she wasn't too happy about having boys…_in_ her…again, but, well, it didn't look like she had much of a choice. "Let's find out."

She glanced around – the passerbys had fled, and Ozaki had run back into Milk Dipper, presumably to call either the police or (more likely) his magazine, so she didn't have to run off to some secluded spot to catch the train. For once, they seemed to be lucking out. …Relatively, anyway.

"January 21st, 1998," she whispered, holding the card up. "…Good thing I brought a coat. It's gonna be _freezing_."

* * *

It was. Literally, as it turned out – Ryoko had no sooner jumped off the train when she slipped on a patch of ice and fell right on her ass. Momo rolled his eyes in disgust.

"All right," he growled, "who's gonna do this? Not you," he added, as Ura immediately raised his hand.

"Senpai, don't keep it all for yourself," the stupid turtle said in mock-despair. Momo flailed wildly in frustration.

"Well, _somebody's_ gotta go out there and help her!" he said. Ryuu perked up instantly, bouncing up and down on his heels.

"Ooh! I'll go! I like her," he said, with an evil-looking grin. Momo considered the idea for about two seconds before shaking his head.

"You're a brat and you have no idea how to fight," he snapped. He ignored Ryuu's protests and glanced at Kin – but he was still asleep, snoring with his arms folded against his chest. "Well, looks like that leaves just one of us. Do I have to do _everything_ around here?"

"I said I'd go," Ryuu pouted, but Momo had already gone, jumping right into Ryoko's body and settling in. It was still weird – she was so _short_, and fuck, why was she not wearing nice warm pants, girls were _insane_ – but now that he knew what to expect, he was able to get used to it. …Sort of.

_Where is it?_ Ryoko asked, from her place in the back of what was now his head. He frowned and looked around, seeing nothing but glittering sheets of ice…

…Wait a minute. He looked closer – that was a _car_, encased in that ice, and that was a person over _there_ – he looked up sharply, just as a blast of bitterly cold air hit him from above. He jumped out of the way, tripping over the stupid heels as he went, just in time to avoid getting frozen himself.

"There you are, you bastard," he said, and he tried to add a menacing laugh for emphasis – it came out more as a slightly evil giggle, but oh well. He could live with that, now that he had something to vent all his frustration on. It'd been a stressful day for him; this thing wasn't just going to die, it was going to get _slaughtered_…

The Imagin landed heavily in front of him and spat another ice blast, but he'd kicked off the heels by now and avoided it easily, laughing at the Imagin as he went. The thing was white and furry, with icicles growing out of its head in the shape of antlers, like some kind of weird deer – he'd have to watch out for the antlers, but other than that, it didn't look so tough…

"All right," he hissed in anticipation, wrapping the Den-O Belt around his waist. It was smaller than he was used to, but so was his waist now; geeze, the thing just felt bulky and stupid on Ryoko's tiny little body. He scowled, scanned the Pass, and –

"Wait a minute," he realized, just as the transformation began, "this isn't going to turn me into some frilly magical girl, is it?!"

_What?!_ Ryoko yelped. It was too late, though; he'd already activated Sword Form, and all he could hope for was that he didn't end up standing here freezing his fucking nonexistant nuts off in some ruffled girly shit –

…It wasn't bad. It was pretty much the same as Ryoutarou's outfit, just…maybe a bit better tailored, and the armor was pieced a little differently, to fit over her different shape. There _was_ a skirt, but it was the same material as the rest of the bodysuit, and it was short enough that it wouldn't interfere with his movement. And, most importantly, _there were leggings under it_ oh thank any gods that were listening.

_That's a shame,_ Ura commented, because Momo had totally asked for his stupid opinion on the matter. _Something frilly would've suited you, senpai._

"Once I am done here," Momo promised him, in tones of fiery death, "you will get what is coming to you. Now –"

The ice crunched behind him, and he swung around just in time to avoid getting whacked full in the face with the Imagin's antlers. He ran past it, pulled out the DenGasher and lunged forward again, laughing maniacally –

– and fell two feet short. He hadn't been expecting this, and ended up tripping over his own feet; the DenGasher flew out of his hand and skidded on the ice, coming to a halt about thirty feet away.

"What the _fuck_ –" he spluttered, but the Imagin was charging at him again, and he had to perform an extremely complicated leaping manuever just to get out of its way. The ice wasn't helping, and he was amazed he hadn't smashed into something by now. This stupid body just wasn't _cooperating_ –

_What are you doing?_ Ryoko said in distress. Momo resisted the urge to scream.

"It's not my fault!" he growled. "You're just not…_working_ right! I should've been able to pull that off with no problem –"

_Senpai,_ Ura hissed, but Momo was too busy trying not to get fucking _impaled_, thank you very much, to listen. _Senpai, you're going about this entirely the wrong way –_

He raced towards his sword, doing his best not to slip, but the Imagin fired another ice blast and he instinctively jerked away from it, sliding way off-course and crashing into an iced-over building front. He swore loudly (and creatively) as he pushed himself back up, death in his eyes.

…_I didn't even know you could _do_ that with a goat,_ Ryuu said in awe, and was immediately shushed.

He made it to the DenGasher on his second try, scooping it up just in time to block the incoming Imagin. It wasn't a good block, just jamming it between its antlers, but he _twisted_ it and the Imagin screamed in pain –

"Take _that_," Momo laughed, just as he got a hoof to the stomach. He fell back and landed right on his backside, immediately twisting and sliding underneath the Imagin's legs so he could slash it from behind.

He'd expected the cut to be deeper, maybe even take off its entire leg, but it didn't go in smoothly and only succeeded in making it angrier. He cursed again and was forced to duck as it took a swipe at his head –

"Something's wrong," he muttered, rolling and ducking to avoid being trampled. It wasn't easy, since he was still holding the fucking DenGasher, and wouldn't _that_ be a perfect ending, impaled on his own sword… "This thing is draining my strength or something – I can't hit it right –"

_That's because you're an idiot,_ Ura snapped. _This isn't Ryoutarou's body! Stop trying to use it like it is! Look, I'll take over –_

"Yeah _right_," Momo said under his breath, and he slammed up all his mental barriers just as the turtle tried to jump in. It cost him, though; the Imagin took the opportunity to kick him again, knocking him back and into a frozen car and _oh shit that hurt_ –

_Your pride is going to get us _killed_,_ Ura said in disgust, but Momo ignored him. He knew what he was doing, damnit – and there was no way he was going to let the fucking turtle get his hands on Ryoko, not if he had had anything to say about it. She wasn't Ryoutarou, but she kind of was at the same time, and she didn't deserve to have a lecherous amphibian have its evil way with her body.

Speaking of which…Momo tried to stand, and winced at the pain in his back. He'd landed badly, but not _that_ badly; if this were Ryoutarou, he would've been able to stand it better, he was sure of it. Maybe the turtle had a point after all…

_At least go to Climax Form,_ Ura was insisting, because he just didn't know when to _fucking quit_. _As usual, you have no idea what you're doing –_

"Shut _up_," Momo grumbled. He stepped carefully forward, paying careful attention to the way his body was moving… The Imagin ran at him again, and he jumped out of the way, then dashed back and sliced at it experimentally, this time putting less force into it. The blade went in cleanly, but was hard to pull out, and he nearly got brained as he slid away again.

Okay, he was starting to figure this out. Ryoko was smaller and lighter than Ryoutarou, and she didn't have his upper-body strength, which was why he still couldn't cut as deeply as he was used to. But she was faster, he realized – it wasn't just the ice that was propelling him around so quickly, although it was certainly helping. She had better control over her legs, and she seemed more flexible, especially when she twisted –

"Hey, Ryoko," he said, as the Imagin recovered from his last attack. "What does…" He hated to say it, he really did, but… "What does the _other_ Momo do?"

_What?_ Ryoko said intelligently. Momo sighed.

"Your Momo," he said impatiently. "What does…ugh…_she_ do when she's fighting? How does she handle it?"

_Um…_ There was a long pause, and Momo resisted the urge to yell at her. The Imagin was starting to get up again, and he braced himself, holding the DenGasher in front of his chest. _Well…she runs around a lot._

"And?" he demanded. It looked like it was going to charge again. "Well?!"

_She runs around them and kind of hits them with her sword,_ Ryoko said, sounding panicked. _I don't know, _she's_ the one who does it! Not me!_

"Thanks, you've been real fucking helpful," Momo grumbled, but he was starting to get an idea. He ignored Ryoko's apologies and instead changed his grip on the DenGasher, holding it one hand instead of both.

The Imagin glared at him, steam rising from its nostrils in the frozen air, so Momo stuck out two fingers and made a rude gesture at it. He licked his lips underneath the helmet, just _daring_ it to come at him…

"Let's dance," he whispered. The Imagin lowered its head and ran forward.

_Aah,_ Ura sighed, but Momo wasn't listening. _We're all going to die. Kin-chan, Ryuuta…it's been an honor serving with you. You're like a family to me, and I shall miss you terribly._

_Really?_ said Ryuu. There was a short pause.

_No,_ said Ura, just as Momo made his move.

He jumped – not at the Imagin, but to the side, taking advantage of Ryoko's speed and the slickness of the ice to move out of the way just as it was about to hit him. The Imagin tried to swerve and, in a fit of irony, slipped, falling on its back and crashing into the same car that Momo had earlier.

Just for good measure, Momo gave it another slice while it was down, then dashed away again before it could get up. He smirked as he slid backwards on the ice, watching it scramble about stupidly.

"See," he said triumphantly, "I know what the hell I'm doing."

Ura was silent. Momo's smirk only got bigger.

His spirits restored, he made a game of it; he would dash up to the Imagin, slash at it a few times, then slip away just as it was turning to hit him. It tried to fire its ice blasts, but they never even touched him, and he was laughing by the time Ura suggested, very tartly, that they just finish it before it died of boredom.

"Whatever," Momo said, practically cheerful now. Ryoko wasn't so bad, he decided, as he swiped the Rider Pass – he'd still pick Ryoutarou any day of the week, but…this was kind of fun, as a one-time thing. …Hopefully one-time. It had _better_ be one-time, anyway.

"Hey, Ryoko," he said suddenly, as the DenGasher charged up. "Have you ever seen my Hissatsu Attack?"

_Which version?_ Ryoko asked, sounding almost bored. Momo was momentarily taken aback, but he recovered quickly – and grinned.

"I call it…" He raised the sword, aimed at the Imagin, and began to laugh. It wasn't a very nice laugh. "Hissatsu Girl Version!"

_What?!_ Ryoko shrieked. She wasn't the only one.

_That's a stupid name,_ Ryuu said. Ura sighed.

_You,_ he said, as the Imagin exploded into tiny little pieces of flaming deer, _have even less sense than Ryoutarou does._

Momo ignored him utterly and detransformed, pleased with himself now. "Oi, Ryoko," he said, as the ice around them began to melt, "I officially accept you as a temporary Ryoutarou-substitute. Be honored."

_I…okay,_ Ryoko said in bewilderment, but Momo wasn't done. He spread his legs out, flung his arms, in the air, and –

"I…have arrived," he said dramatically. There was a long silence – too long, he thought, and he started to get annoyed after a minute or so. "What? I didn't do it earlier; I was overdue."

_I stand by my earlier statement,_ said Ura. Momo scowled and kicked a frozen lamppost, pretending it was the turtle's stupid fucking face – then screamed and grabbed his foot in pain. _Oh, Senpai, please don't make me repeat myself a third time._

"Shut the fuck up," Momo hissed through clenched teeth – just as the lightbulb fell out of the lamppost and cracked over his head. Ura's laughter echoed through his mind – or maybe that was just the ringing in his ears, he couldn't tell. "Don't you _dare_ say anything. Just…_don't_."

_I wouldn't dream of it,_ Ura said dryly.


	6. Chapter 5

Ryoutarou was not doing quite as well.

"I hate you and your stupid body!" Momo screamed, struggling at the ice encasing their legs. "If we get out of this alive, I'm going to _kill_ you, you – you – _boy_!"

_It's not my fault,_ he protested – or rather, he would've, except he was afraid she might be serious, and he didn't want to piss her off any more than he already had. It was true, though – it wasn't _his_ fault she kept banging their head on things, and tripping over their own feet, and that they'd ended up about half-frozen to the ground as the Imagin danced around them. The only reason they were still alive was due to some very fancy swordwork on Momo's part, and a hell of a lot of luck. Ryoutarou had never had so much good luck in his entire life, let alone for a consecutive five minutes, and he wasn't sure how much longer it would last.

(And then, of course, there was the fact that they were _pink_. That was most definitely _not_ his fault, either.)

_Senpai,_ Ura was saying, _let me take over. You're not used to this body –_

"Like you _are_," Momo growled. Their grip tightened on DenGasher, and she brandished it again – but this time not at the Imagin, instead starting to hack away at the ice around them. She put way too much power into it at first, but eased off before she chopped their legs off, and managed to make some headway before the Imagin charged them again.

"Oh, fuck _this_," Momo shouted, and then, much to Ryoutarou's shock, "I'm gonna leave it to you, Ryuu-chan. You got it?"

_Got it!_ Ryuu squealed, and the next thing Ryoutarou knew, she'd jumped in and switched them over to Gun Mode. The DenGasher was reassembled in record time, and just as the Imagine reached them, she fired off a shot right into its face. It shrieked and fell back, clutching its muzzle, and Ryuu smiled like a kid in a candy shop.

This was…different. Ryoutarou couldn't remember Momo ever _voluntarily_ giving up control, let alone to Ryuu; even Ryoutarou had a hard time convincing him, and usually had to force himself back into control before Momo would get the message. Apparently this Momo didn't have such a stick up her butt – or least hers was significantly smaller.

The gun worked better on the ice than the sword did, shattering it instantly without damaging their legs at all. Ryuu danced around the Imagin, taking aim again –

Apparently it wasn't as hurt as they thought, because it lunged suddenly, pawing at them with its hooves. Ryuu jumped out of the way – right into its antlers, as it suddenly swooped its head in to catch her. The sharp crystals dragged against their arm, tearing the cloth and drawing blood, and as Ryuu squeaked in pain it caught her gun and flipped it out of her hands.

"Oh, _shit_," she said, just as the Imagin kicked them again, sending them sliding backwards and straight into a frozen tree. The impact shattered the tree, sending ice fragments everywhere; some of them landed in their open wound, and it _stung_ –

Ryuu was trying to avoid the Imagin's attacks, dancing and twisting as it came at them again, but she wasn't used to Ryoutarou's body either, and they just fell flat on their face. Their nose bent painfully against the inside of the helmet, and Ryoutarou sincerely hoped it wasn't broken – he'd already broken his nose twice in the past year, he didn't think he could stand to do it again…

_Switch with me,_ Kin demanded. _I'll chop this bastard 'til he cries!_

Once again, there wasn't any argument – Ryuu nodded and leapt out, just as Kin settled in. Ryoutarou didn't think he was _ever_ going to get over the shock of the Imagin actually _cooperating_ with each other – this was even weirder than the whole girl…dimension…thing…in the first place! This day could not possibly get any more bizarre, in _any_ way. It just _couldn't_.

Kin staggered at first, but she adjusted quickly enough; in fact, when she ran forward, their body didn't trip or hit anything at all, and was even almost graceful in a…Kin-like way. Maybe it was because her real form was bigger in general, so she was more used to the switch-off – based on the way Momo and Ryuu had tried to move, Ryoutarou got the impression that Ryoko was a lot shorter than he was. (And, well, the fact that Momo had walked right into the doorway without bothering to duck when they'd gotten off the train had been sort of telling.)

Whatever it was, Kin seemed to be doing better than the others already; she didn't even bother going after the DenGasher, instead charging straight at the Imagin and just _grabbing_ it by the antlers, wrestling it to the ground. She didn't do a bad job, either, and almost had it pinned when it leaned forward and stomped on their foot.

It didn't hurt that much – well, it _did_, but not as much as it would've if this weren't Kin – but their grip loosened a little in surprise, just enough for the Imagin to push forward and, kicking out, knock their legs out from under them.

"That's _cheating_!" Kin bellowed, but even as she grabbed for it again, it kicked them in the ribs. Once again, Kin's influence kept it from causing too much damage, but their body skidded on the ice and went sliding backwards –

– and then a giant black and green bird fell out of the sky right onto the Imagin, screeching at broken-glass levels and brandishing a giant sword.

Ryoutarou realized with a sudden dawning horror that no, his day was only going to get _weirder_ from here on out.

_Is that – Zeronos?!_ he said in disbelief. He'd expected the others to be surprised, too, but instead he got a chorus of resigned sighs, and a sense of overwhelming disappointment.

_She never lets us have any fun,_ Ryuu muttered. Kin was up again at this point, and she charged them forward just as the Imagin bucked, throwing Zeronos off – they hit it head-on, the blade on the Axe Form's helmet driving deep into its neck.

"I'll finish it," she said, but Zeronos – in Altair form, Ryoutarou noticed – jumped up, sword still in hand.

"Stay back," she snapped. It was a tone that Ryoutarou had _never_ heard from Yuuto before, and definitely hadn't expected from Yuuko, who'd seemed so much friendlier. It was a tone that promised death and destruction and horrible, horrible pain upon anyone who disagreed – and it was a tone that made even _Kin_, who wouldn't pick up on a hint if you waved it in his face and told him it was crying, back down. Either that, or girl-Kin was just smarter and knew not to mess with a tone like _that_.

So instead they just stood there _watched_ as Zeronos Full Charged her card, jammed it into her sabre and – not only did she release the attack, but she went in after it, hacking at the Imagin until there was nothing left but tiny, tiny pieces. And even then, she just stood there, holding the sabre so tightly that Ryoutarou wondered if she'd ever be able to let go, and staring down at what was left…

_Is she okay?_ Ryoutarou asked, honestly afraid for her sanity. He got the mental equivalent of a shrug.

_She's just hyped on the adrenaline,_ Ura said, but he wasn't sure he believed her. He didn't think she was lying, precisely – he'd gotten very good at reading Ura, mostly out of necessity, and he was certain even girl-Ura couldn't be that different – but it didn't seem like she was really explaining things, either. Actually, it seemed more like she just expected him to _know_ what was going on, like he was stupid for not realizing what her issue was…

Deneb was here now, creeping up behind Zeronos, moving slowly and deliberately. She seemed to hear him coming and whipped around, sabre still in hand – Deneb shook his head sadly.

"Yuuko," he said softly, "it's gone. You did it."

Very slowly, Zeronos lowered her sabre. Deneb gave her an encouraging nod.

"It's over," he said. Zeronos paused, tensing up, and for a moment Ryoutarou wasn't sure if she was going to drop her sword or bash Deneb's head in with it – but then she shook her head and detransformed, the card dissolving away as her armor disappeared.

Kin followed her example, and Ryoutarou felt her drop away from their body as they detransformed, leaving him back in control. The stinging in his arm felt worse, and he rolled up his sleeve to get a better look at it; the next thing he knew, Yuuko was practically on top of him. She was taller than him even as a girl, and her eyes were two black lasers bearing down on him.

"Let me see that," she commanded, in a very similar tone to the one she'd used earlier, and Ryoutarou raised his arm without even thinking about it. It wasn't a deep cut, that was obvious – really just a scratch – but it was still tender, and he winced as she touched it.

She was silent as she looked it over, Deneb hovering worriedly over her shoulder, although Ryoutarou was certain he was more concerned about _her_ than he was for him. What the hell had _happened_ just now? And why were the Imagin acting so weird?

As if on cue, Momo shoved her way in, snarling up at Yuuko. "Why the _hell_ did you do that?"

Yuuko stopped probing his scratch and looked back up at him, surprised. "What?"

"We could've killed it," she continued, even as Ura hissed _stop it, senpai, you'll just get her mad again_. "It just caught us off-guard for a minute. Why did you waste a card like that?!"

Even Deneb was waving his hands now, apparently telling them to stop talking, but it was too late now. Yuuko's face hardened even further and she just _stared_ at them.

"I mean," Momo was continuing, "how many cards do you even have _left_? Do you _want_ to disappear, you dumb –"

Disappear?

Yuuko's fingers tightened suddenly on their arm, and Momo yelped as her fingernails dug right into their wound – she immediately relaxed her grip, but there was anger in her face now, and it made her look more like Yuuto than ever. Ryoutarou tried to ask Momo what she thought she was doing, provoking the obviously crazy lady, but she just ignored him.

"I don't want to see you hurt," Yuuko said abruptly, and she dropped their arm. Ryoutarou was surprised – was that _it_? It certainly seemed to be, because she backed up a few steps, then turned and started walking off, Deneb trailing behind her. Zero-Liner wasn't in sight, but the Zero-Horn was parked about half a block away. Ryoutarou wondered how the hell she'd managed to jump out from the sky, then, but there were more important questions right now.

_What was _that_ all about?_ he asked instead. Momo shrugged, still glowering at Yuuko's retreating back. _Why was she so angry? What do you mean, disappear?!_

"Dunno how many cards she has left," Momo grumbled, apparently unaware of just how little that helped. "And goddamnit, she wasted a card, even though we could've taken it out by ourselves – Ryoko's gonna _freak_…"

There was a short, uncomfortable pause. Once again, Ryoutarou was reminded that this wasn't _his_ Momo – or his world, or even actually Yuuto, no matter how much she might look like him. If he hadn't missed them all before, he certainly did now – he felt suddenly, deeply homesick, moreso than he'd ever really felt before. He'd never been so completely _displaced_, totally unable to find his way home at all, or even sure that he _could_…

_I take it your…Yuuto, was it?...isn't quite so vigilante,_ Ura said, snapping him out of his thoughts. Momo was still muttering to herself, still on a long rant about the questionable intelligence of certain Riders, only in much less polite terms. _She's even worse with Ryoko, you know._

_She's like that _all the _time? _Ryoutarou said in disbelief. Ura sighed.

_Afraid so,_ she said, as though this were something irritating but unavoidable. _She's been holding back a lot lately, but…she probably sees you as Ryoko, or at least her ticket to getting Ryoko back, and the blood probably freaked her out even more. It's just the way she is._

_It upsets Ryoko,_ said Kin. Her voice sounded sleepy, like she was getting ready for a nap, but she kept talking anyway. _She wants her to stop, but –_

"She just _won't_," Momo finished gruffly, apparently having run out of obscene things to call her. "And at this rate, she's going to run out of cards before we even get Ryoko back."

There it was again – why were they so concerned about the cards? Well, he supposed it made sense; if things worked the same way in this universe, they wouldn't have Zeronos to bail them out once the cards were gone. But it wasn't like Yuuko was going to _die_ without them…

Momo dropped away again, her fury spent, and Ryoutaru trudged back towards the train. This was all so _confusing_… He stared at his feet, trying to work out just _what_ the deal was with Yuuko and the Imagin – maybe they were all just…very caring, as girls?

He didn't even notice Haru until he'd walked right into him. He stumbled back, made a wild grab to try and steady himself, and only succeeded in pulling Haru down with him –

"Oh my god," Haru said in horror, right by his ear. "Get _off of me_!"

Ryoutarou tried to get up, but Haru moved, and he ended up tripping again, this time over Haru's legs. He fell on top of him again, banging their heads together and falling completely over from the sudden rush of dizziness. Haru swore and pushed him off.

"Well," he muttered, as Ryoutarou tried to get his bearings back, "at least this is a lot less awkward than when it happens with _Ryoko_." He sighed as Ryoutarou pulled himself to his feet; apparently it didn't occur to him to actually help him up, but oh well.

"We'd better get back," he continued. "Owner said he might know someone who could help us – or who at least might know more about what's going on. He had me send off a message…"

"To _who_?" Ryoutarou said blankly, Yuuko temporarily forgotten. Haru shrugged, but didn't look overly concerned about it for some reason.

"He wouldn't say," he said. "I think he just gets off on being cryptic and mysterious. He didn't even tell me where the message was going, or let me read it, and I haven't figured out how that whole system works yet so I can't…are you listening? This is kind of _important_."

But Ryoutarou wasn't listening. Instead he was staring over Haru's shoulder – right at the ball of yellow light behind him.

_It's an Imagin!_ Momo said, because a Momo in any world had the incredible ability to point out the obvious. Haru hadn't noticed yet, and was just staring at him like he'd gone insane.

Ryoutarou tried to make his mouth work, but all that came out was a half-hearted, "Ima…"

"What?" Haru said, eyebrows knitting together like a confused scarf. "What are you –"

"Imagin!" Ryoutarou finally managed, but it was too late. There was a flash of light, so bright that he had to shield his eyes, and when it finally dimmed to a bearable level –

"Ah, princess," said an exceedingly familiar voice. It took him a second to place it – but of course, he should've known. There was only one Imagin who could possess somebody without a contract, after all, and hadn't they dropped him off sometime in 1997…?

_Oh god, not _him_,_ Momo groaned. _I had enough of him before we even kicked him out. Here, let me deal with it, I'll just knee him in the balls before he tries anything –_

_No, wait, senpai,_ said Ura, and there was a note of pure, malicious glee in her voice. _I realize how difficult it is for you, but if you could refrain from indulging your violent tendencies for just a moment…I _must_ see his face when he realizes._

"Realizes _what_?" Ryoutarou said, just as the light faded completely. Sieg stood before him in Haru's body, spreading his arms out wide with an expression of smug satisfaction –

_Wait a minute,_ said Ryoutarou's brain, and for the millionth time, Ryoutarou thanked god that the Imagin couldn't read his thoughts. _He said 'princess', but Hana's a guy in this world. Does that mean…_

There was an extremely awkward moment of silence. Sieg's face appeared to have frozen in shock.

_Oh lord,_ Ryoutaru's brain added, because this was not embarrassing enough already. _Did I really look that _stupid_ when he possessed me?_

"Um," Ryoutaru said miserably. The Imagin were being absolutely no help, having dissolved into a chorus of hysterical laughter – even Kin, who had a surprisingly high-pitched giggle. Momo sounded like she was having trouble breathing properly.

"Princess!" Sieg gasped, his feather boa fluffing up dramatically. Ryoutarou wondered, not for the first time, where the hell the Imagin got all these random props – sure, it was probably the least confusing part of this whole time-travelling, wish-granting monster mess, but…seriously, a _feather boa_? "This can't be you! You're so…so very…"

He seemed at a loss for words (which was probably a good thing; Ryoutarou remembered what Sieg had been like). He wished he could say something – anything at all – but his throat had frozen from sheer _humiliation_, and all he could do was stare at his feet and hope it would be over soon.

"So…unlike yourself," Sieg managed finally, and Ryoutarou looked up again. Okay, Ura had been right; his face was absolutely _priceless_. It only lasted another second, though, and quickly became composed again, with his familiar arrogant sneer.

"I demand to know what is going on," he fumed. "I happened to be in the area, and sensed the presence of other Imagin – and when I come to greet my fiancée, I find _this_?"

"Hey," Ryoutarou said, fairly certain he should be offended by this, before the _rest_ of what he'd said caught up with him. "Wait, your _what_?!"

_What,_ said Momo, still choking on her laughter, _he isn't a crazy feather-head with control issues where you're from? Oh god, let me tell him. I have to tell him…_

"Well – yes, but – fiancée?!" Ryoutarou whimpered. Sieg stared down his nose at him.

"Of course," he said primly. "After our experiences together, a bond of love had been forged between us, and my princess graciously agreed to marry me –"

_Oh, she did not,_ Momo said in disgust. _He's just delusional._

_If I remember correctly, she just stood there and said 'um' a lot when he proposed,_ Ura explained. Ryoutarou wondered why the Sieg in _his_ world had never proposed to Hana – then remembered that _this_ Sieg had proposed to a girl version of _him_, and realized that he really didn't want to think about it.

"—and so naturally, upon seeing that she has been replaced with…_this_," Sieg was continuing, unaware of their mental conversation, "I believe that an explanation is in due order. Where is my fiancée, and – as you are obviously not her – why do you hold contracts with my minions in her place?"

_His _face_ is a minion,_ Ryuu said, because Ryuu was a five-year-old at heart. Ryoutarou spluttered incoherently, really wishing that he'd just never gotten out of bed this morning.

"But – how could she marry you?" he asked, before he could stop himself. Once again, his brain had apparently decided to focus on the least important issue at hand. "You're in the past, and I – I mean, she –"

"True love transcends time and space," Sieg said loftily. He peered closer at Ryoutarou – and Ryoutarou was suddenly even more uncomfortable than he had been before. "…Now that I look at you more carefully…are you perhaps a relative?"

"Uh," Ryoutarou stammered, too freaked out to form a coherent answer. "That is, _I'm_ –"

"Ah, so you are to be my brother-in-law," Sieg decided, and he made a grand gesture with his arms that nearly took Ryoutarou's eye out. "I welcome you into my family. You came to this era to give us your blessing, of course…"

Ryoutarou had honestly been proud of himself for not fainting before, but this was just too much. He still didn't completely faint – but the dizziness overwhelmed him, and he sat down shakily onto the ground. Oh god, oh god, this world was _insane_…

Ura took pity on him after that and jumped in, giving Sieg a heavily edited version of the story. Ryoutarou wasn't sure if she didn't tell him the truth because she didn't think he could handle it, or because she was just Ura – but in her version, Ryoko had simply become spacially misplaced, and they had hitched a ride on Ryoutarou in order to find her again.

"I see," Sieg said, once she'd finished. He appeared to be heavily contemplating the matter. "But how is it that my brother-in-law can hold you with no contract?"

"Because he is pure of heart and noble of spirit," Ura said sarcastically, but Sieg nodded as though this made perfect sense.

"How long ago was this?" he asked, and Ura blinked. Apparently she hadn't been expecting that – neither had Ryoutarou, who thought it was a weird question. Why did it _matter_?

"It was this morning," she said, "perhaps…five hours ago? We had just disembarked, when suddenly Ryoko was torn away from us like a –"

"Ah, so _that's_ what that was," Sieg said thoughtfully. Ura broke off, either too shocked that he seemed to know something or too put out that he'd _interrupted her_. Sieg noticed her expression, and frowned.

"Did you not feel it?" he said. "There was a…_shudder_ throughout time, at approximately the moment you mentioned. Perhaps it was simply my refined senses that allowed me to feel it when other, less sophisticated Imagin –"

"Indeed," Ura said. She had the same habit as his Ura, Ryoutarou noticed – when she was annoyed, instead of getting louder and angrier like the others did, she became even more frostily polite. "Could you explain this in more detail?"

"It was as though something had pierced through the space-time contiuum." Sieg made a strange motion with his hands that was apparently supposed to illustrate this; it looked more like he was indicating that they do something extremely obscene with a cucumber. "It was brief, and very faint, but it felt almost like…"

"Yes?" Ura prompted, when Sieg failed to continue. He no longer looked snooty; instead he seemed…troubled, somehow, as though this was heading into disturbing territory.

"It was as though there was…another time stream," he said, and he shook his head. "As though time was being overwritten, but at the same time, not quite – more like…being displaced, or cut into pieces and reassembled. Are you certain you didn't feel it at all? It is a very distinctive sensation…"

"Alas, if only we all were as magnificent as you," Ura muttered. "Do you mean that somebody changed history?"

"No," he said thoughtfully. "No, this is if…someone _replaced_ history. Which is different," he added, as Ura started to say something. "For a moment I thought the universe was being torn asunder – but then it stopped, and all seemed well again. But you say that my poor fiancée was lost, in this terrible battle between times –"

Ura stood up very abruptly. Sieg broke off, looking annoyed, but before he could say anything she said, "Thank you for your time. You've been very helpful."

_He has?_ Momo said doubtfully, and Ryoutarou sort of agreed. He didn't have any idea what Sieg had been talking about.

"I will help you retrieve my princess," Sieg said, and it wasn't an offer so much as a statement. Ryoutarou felt Ura cringe, although she kept their face totally impassive.

"Oh, but you've already helped," she started. Sieg started to protest, and she had to speak increasingly loudly in order to be heard over him. "No, really – besides, it's more important that you stay _here_, because…well, you see, if Ryoko is returned to us, but not in her proper time, then she will naturally seek you out immediately, what with you being her fiancé, and so –"

"Ah," he said. Ryoutarou could _feel_ Ura's annoyance at being continually interrupted, magnified a hundred times by Sieg's inherent ability to be obnoxious no matter _what_ he did. "But if she were to appear in the far past, or in some place I am unable to sense her, then –"

"True love transcends time and space," Ura said sweetly. Sieg looked unsure as to whether or not he should be insulted. "Now, if you'll excuse us…"

She turned and headed back towards DenLiner. Ryoutarou could feel her mouthing 'ignorant, self-serving, arrogant _twit_' as they went, and felt this was sort of unfair of her; Sieg had at least tried to help, in his own Sieg-ish way, and…wait, why were they boarding the train again?

_What about Haru?_ he said in alarm. Ura paused, shrugged, and pulled them the rest of the way back onto DenLiner.

"He can find his own way back," she said, totally uninterested. Ryoutarou gibbered – surely she wouldn't – but she was already sliding the door shut behind them. Well, so much for them just being more _caring_.

He braced himself and _pushed_, forcing Ura back and stumbling slightly as he regained control –

_What was that for?_ she demanded, but he ignored her. He opened the door again, just in time to see a (thankfully de-Sieged) Haru racing towards them, murder in his eyes.

"_You tried to ditch me_!" he was shouting. Ryoutarou started having second thoughts about letting him back onto the train after all. "You just tried to strand me in the past – with _him_ – _I'm going to kill you_!"

"It wasn't me!" Ryoutarou yelled, just as Haru took a running leap onto the train and landed directly on top of him, shrieking and flailing. The door slid shut behind them as the train started, and Ryoutarou flung his arms in front of his face as Haru –

– completely failed to beat him up. Instead he just sat on top of him, breathing hard and glaring down at him, fingers curling and uncurling. He looked like he _wanted_ to beat him up – like he really, _really_ did – but he just…didn't, for some reason.

Ryoutarou didn't move his hands though, just in case Haru had a change of heart. He stayed like that even when the other boy got off of him and stood up again, leaning heavily against the wall. He seemed to be counting very slowly under his breath.

After a minute or so of this, though, he figured Haru probably wasn't going to kill him after all – he did _look_ calmer, or at least back to his default level of anger. Ryoutarou sat up, making sure not to make any sudden movements, and gave him a questioning look.

"Sorry," Haru said finally. He stared at his feet. "It…wasn't your fault. It was _her_. I mean, they don't like me, and they take it out on me, and so I kind of take it out on everyone else…I'm not making any sense, am I?"

"Mm," Ryoutarou murmured, afraid that if he said anything one way or the other, Haru would forget that he wasn't going to punch his face in. Haru sighed.

"It's just – I get really angry, and – I mean, my dad always told me I wasn't supposed to hit girls," he said, and Ryoutarou realized with dawning horror that they were having a Moment. Oh god, this had happened once or twice before with Yuuto, and he'd never been any good at it then either, and wait a minute, had he just said –

"You didn't hit _me_," he said, and it came out accusingly even though he'd been trying for exactly the opposite. Haru flushed and looked back up at him; Ryoutarou wondered if it had been a good idea to remind him that he wasn't a girl and therefore prime hitting material.

"Yeah, but you're _Ryoko_," he started, and then stopped and tried again. "I mean, you're not, but you kind of – you _look_ like her, only you sort of – I don't know." He turned around and kicked the wall in frustration; he'd kicked it pretty hard, but it didn't leave so much as a scuff mark. Ryoutarou chalked it up to the DenLiner being magical and left it at that. "I can't hit you, either, because you're kind of her only not really and this is driving me _insane_!"

He kicked the wall again, harder this time, and Ryoutarou shrank back. Maybe he could just leave now, and Haru would forget all about him and he could go lay down somewhere and try not to think about everything that had happened in the past few hours. Maybe he could just pretend that he was back in his nice warm bed, in his own world, with his sister and his _male_ Imagin and Hana, who wasn't a bundle of anger-management issues just waiting to explode…

The compartment door slid open again; for once in his life, it seemed like Ryoutarou was actually having some good luck. He jumped up, nearly tripping over himself again, and stared with infinite gratitude at whoever had come to rescue him from this horrible moment of awkwardness –

It was Yuuko. His luck hadn't changed one bit.

"How did you get in here?" Haru demanded, but Yuuko ignored him, heading straight for Ryoutarou. Deneb trailed behind her, holding a first-aid kit – and he didn't walk the same way as Yuuto's Deneb, Ryoutarou realized. This Deneb seemed more…subdued, somehow. The Deneb _he_ knew would be flailing around as he went, possibly gibbering something about shiitake, but this one just…looked normal, or at least as normal as Deneb could ever get. Somehow, this was even more jarring than everything else, and Ryoutarou had to sit down again very heavily.

"I want another look at your arm," Yuuko said, still ignoring Haru as he insisted that it was physically impossible for her to be on their train right now. Ryoutarou shook his head and gave her a manic grin.

"I'm fine," he insisted. "It really was just a scratch, it's probably not even bleeding anymore –"

"It could get infected," she said firmly. She didn't even appear to be listening to him; instead she just sat down beside him and took the first-aid kit from Deneb, rummaging through it. Ryoutarou stared at Haru, hoping for some support – but he looked just as helpless against Yuuko's sheer persistence.

Yuuko made him roll up his sleeve again, and then set about scrubbing at his arm with some sort of evil-smelling disinfectant. It _stung_, and he couldn't help cringing a little; Yuuko didn't seem to notice, and just scrubbed harder.

Eventually Haru, fed up with being ignored, muttered something about going to talk to Owner, and he stalked off into the dining car. Yuuko had moved on to using a pair of tweezers at this point, ostensibly to pick out the dirt, but – Ryoutarou was certain – really just to torture him further with. It never hurt _this_ much when Airi cleaned him up…

"How _did_ you get in here?" he asked, mostly to distract himself from the pain. Yuuko looked surprised, as if she hadn't expected him to speak to her. "I mean. While the train was moving and all."

"I've got my ways," she said finally, probably just to reinforce Ryoutarou's belief that he would never understand this magical time-travelling flying train thing, ever. She gave him a weird little half-smile, exactly the sort Yuuto sometimes did when he would forget he hated Ryoutarou with the passion of a thousand suns, and once again it struck him how much she really did look just him –

Before he knew what he was doing – he really needed to learn how to think before he spoke – he'd said again, "What was all that about?"

He wasn't sure if she was going to answer him or not. For a moment, it didn't seem like she would; she kept working at his arm, no longer looking at him. Just when he'd given up on getting a response, though, she said, "Don't lecture me."

"I'm not, I swear," he said hurriedly. "I just want to know why…well, why everyone was freaking out so much."

"Freaking out?" Yuuko echoed, looking not so much angry now as just…surprised. Ryoutarou had the impression that he'd just said something stupid.

"I mean, you were so – enthusiastic," he said lamely. "And then the Imagin were getting all upset because they don't know how many cards you have left, and, well, not that I don't appreciate Zeronos – I really, _really_ do, trust me – but it just seemed like they were making a really huge deal out of it…"

Yuuko and Deneb were both staring at him now. Ryoutarou realized that his attempts to sound less stupid had backfired horribly.

"Well," Yuuko said finally. "That is. I don't…really have many cards left."

"There's only one left," Deneb put in. Yuuko turned and glared at him; it was a very familiar glare, and Ryoutarou realized he'd been wrong when he thought Yuuko probably didn't get mad at Deneb the way Yuuto did. His heart went out to the poor Imagin, who was shrinking back under the force of Yuuko's stare.

Yuuko seemed to be able to control herself better, though, and she turned back to Ryoutarou with a big fake smile on her face. "It's okay, though," she said. "I don't mind. I'll just have to be more careful."

Ryoutarou wasn't sure what else he'd expected her to say – but something in the look on her face told him that there was more to it than this, that there really was something bigger going on here.

"Okay," he said, unsure of what else to say. "I guess. But I don't know why they're so upset about it – I mean, just because you won't be able to become Zeronos anymore, it just seems like they were kind of –"

The tweezers dug right into his arm, and the rest of his sentence ended up in a cry of pain. Yuuko was _staring_ at him, and this was even _worse_ than the look she'd given Deneb – Ryoutarou was suddenly absolutely certain that he was going to die, right here and right now. He thought about making a break for it, but he was frozen in place in fear, and she was still holding onto his arm besides.

"Um," he whimpered, trying to discreetly pull his arm away, but Yuuko kept a death-like grip on it. "Um, sorry, I just meant –"

"What are you _talking_ about?" Yuuko demanded, and Ryoutarou realized that she wasn't angry – she was in shock. "Are you – don't you know what the cards _are_?"

"They just let you turn into Zeronos, right?" he stammered. He kept trying to pull away, but she just wouldn't let _go_. "I mean, Yuuto never told me where he got them or what they were made of or, or anything else –"

Yuuko sat back back and just shook her head, still staring at him in disbelief. Her grip on his arm had relaxed slightly, and he drew it carefully back, afraid to make any sudden movements.

"He never told you," she whispered. "Oh my god. He never –"

She broke off and started to laugh, although Ryoutarou couldn't see what was so funny about it. When she saw the look on his face, though, she trailed off, frowning again.

"Sorry," she said. "It's really not funny. I just can't believe that he never _told_ you…"

"Told me _what_?" Ryoutarou said, although it came out as less a demand and more of a squeak. He was still sort of afraid of her, even though she'd stopped _glaring_ at him.

Now she was looking at him with an emotion he couldn't identify – it was _pity_, he realized suddenly, hard to tell because he'd never seen Yuuto look at him like _that_. What could possibly be so bad about the cards that it made her _pity_ him not to know?

"The cards are the memories of me," she said, and Ryoutarou experienced a horrible sinking sensation in his chest as he remembered exactly _what_ happened to the cards once they'd been used. "Or, rather, they're the memories of my future self – the memories that other people have of her – so you see, every time I use one…"

Ryoutarou sat thought the rest of her explanation, hearing it but not really registering it. He thought that he should feel angry, or distressed, or at least upset – but instead, he just felt cold.

So that was why nobody remembered Sakurai-san. He'd thought that he'd been erased by an Imagin, or displaced in time – but then Yuka had remembered him, and he'd _seen_ him, and…

"Then again," Yuuko was saying, almost hesitantly, "maybe it works differently in your universe. Maybe –"

"No," he interrupted. _Now_ he was starting to feel angry – why hadn't Yuuto _told_ him? "No, it would make sense. It would explain a _lot_, actually…"

Sakurai-san hadn't been killed by the Imagin, not if there were still memories of him for Yuuto to transform with. But did that mean he'd _left_, that he'd _chosen_ to remove himself from the timestream and from their lives, and that was why he was now wandering around in time?

Why hadn't Yuuto ever _said_ anything about it?

Yuuko must've seen something in his expression, because she touched his arm again, very lightly. "Don't get mad at him," she said quietly. "He's stupid for not telling you, but he just didn't want to hurt you –"

Ryoutarou nearly laughed. Instead he just shook his head, staring at his feet.

"I don't think that's why," he said. "Yuuto – I mean, he's not like you. We're not really – I mean, we might be friends, sort of, but he doesn't like me getting in his way. He said that it was none of my business, and I should just stay out of it –"

"He's an idiot," Yuuko said sharply. At some point Deneb had come up behind her, and he handed her a roll of gauze; she began to wrap it around Ryoutarou's arm, no longer looking sympathetic. "And you're not really much better. He told you that, huh? And you _believed_ him?"

"Well – it's the truth," Ryoutarou said, bewildered now. Yuuko just looked at him.

"He's in love with your sister, isn't he?" she said finally. Ryoutarou blinked. "I mean, he's going to be, because they were engaged in the future, right? And that's how he became Zeronos? His future self came to him and gave him the cards, and explained everything about the timestream, and how we had to stop _her_…"

She suddenly looked uneasy, as though she'd said something she shouldn't have. Ryoutarou started to ask who 'her' was, and why she needed stopping, and wait a minute, _what_ was this about Sakurai-san – but Yuuko spoke over him, her voice loud and falsely cheerful.

"But he would've had it all explained to him," she said firmly. "He knew that he was going to grow up and fall in love with your sister, and that she and you would be his family. He goes to Milk Dipper a lot, am I right? Or is it called something else in your universe?"

Ryoutarou nodded, and started to speak again, but again, she cut him off. "You're kind of slow," she told him, although she was smiling, and it softened the words a little. "You and him _both_. Why do you think he keeps going there? Why do you think he keeps hanging around you two? If he really didn't care, then why do you think he's not just _staying away from you_?

"It's not like he – we – couldn't," she continued. Ryoutarou was too busy just staring at her in alarm to comment, all thoughts of Sakurai-san and mysterious 'her's forgotten. "Zeronos' mission doesn't say anything about staying with you all the time, trust me. I mean, it _helps_ – if you're anything like Ryoko you must attract Imagin like flies – but it's not that hard to follow someone without them knowing, and honestly, it'd be _easier_ to stay out of the way until one shows up."

She seemed to be waiting for a response, but Ryoutarou didn't have the slightest idea what to say to all that. It wasn't that she was _wrong_, exactly – he supposed it _was_ true that nobody was exactly forcing Yuuto to hang around him and Airi, but…she just didn't know what Yuuto was like, she was only making assumptions based on what _she_ was like…

"Don't give me that look," Yuuko said sourly. "I mean it. I think I, out of anybody, would understand him better than you – or at least, that part of him. Let me…"

She trailed off and glanced uneasily behind her. Deneb gave her an encouraging wave; she cleared her throat, and after a moment of staring at her blankly, Deneb finally got the hint.

"Oh, er," he said eloquently. "…Look, you've finished with the first-aid kit! I'll just go put it back for you. And…see what else needs to be done around here. Maybe I'll get started on that shiitake salad…"

He bustled off, although he paused to give Ryoutarou a lollipop and a vague comment about being a good boy. The similarity to his doctor was so strong that Ryoutarou almost opened his mouth and went 'aaah' out of reflex.

Yuuko smiled as he left, looking almost wistful now. "He's been so good to me," she said quietly. "I don't know how I would've gotten through all this without him. But as I was saying…"

This really wasn't helping her case any. That she was kind towards Deneb was more than enough proof that she had absolutely no idea whatsoever as to how Yuuto worked – but Ryoutarou let her talk anyway. He really didn't want another lecture, or even worse, to get her mad again.

"The thing is," she said, "I wasn't even _supposed_ to get close to them. When my future self came to me, she _said_ – she outright _told me_ that I shouldn't seek them out, that it would be easier on everyone if I kept my distance. Especially from Ashiri. But I just…_couldn't_." She shrugged, not really looking at him anymore. "I meant to stay away, I really did – but, well, things worked out the way they worked out, and…

"It was because of Ashiri, at first," she continued, almost in a whisper. Ryoutarou had to strain to hear her. "You tell me this is the man I'm going to fall in love with, the man I'm going to _marry_ – or at least plan on marrying – and then you tell me to stay away from him, don't even go look at him, not even once? And I thought, well, he doesn't remember me anyway, what could it hurt? Only…"

She seemed to be having trouble getting the words out. Ryoutarou waited as she licked her lips and tried again.

"Only, it was like…I couldn't stop myself, after that," she said. "And even though I'd never met him before, and I knew he didn't remember me – my future self – it still felt kind of unfair, and it just made me so _angry_ – and then there's the whole thing with Ryoko being Den-O, you know? This girl who's going to be my little sister is running around getting possessed and risking her life for something she shouldn't even be involved in. How am I _supposed_ to react to all that?"

"Er," Ryoutarou started, but apparently it had been a rhetorical question, because she didn't give him a chance to continue.

"I was pretty nasty to them in the beginning. I figured…I'm probably just going to end up getting erased, why make it any harder on them? It was better to have Ryoko hate me, because she was the only one who would remember…"

She spread her hands helplessly in front of her, and didn't say anything for a long moment. Ryoutarou was just wondering if he should say something when she said, "But she was just so…I mean, it was _Ryoko_. You'd have to be _insane_ to be able to be mean to her for any sustained length of time. So I decided I'd be her friend instead." She smiled again, in that same wistful sort of way. "I figured it was better to leave her with happy memories, anyway. Does that sound too cheesy?"

"Well," Ryoutarou said carefully. Yuuko laughed.

"I guess it didn't go that way for you, huh?" she said, which was probably the understatement of the century. "When you get back to your universe, knock some sense into my boy-self's head, will you? Give him a nice big punch in the face for me."

"I don't think it would mean the same, coming from me…"

"He could use one anyway." Yuuko seemed to be snapping out of it; she seemed more relaxed, and her smile was brighter – but then it faded again, very slightly. "So…now you know."

She only had one card left. She was going to disappear if she transformed again – and what if _Yuuto_ had transformed too, back in his universe? What if he managed to get back, only to find that Yuuto was gone – just _gone_, not even disappearing into the timestream – and that now there was no chance at all that he or Airi would ever see Sakurai-san again…

"We'll get you back," Yuuko said quietly. "And – I'm not going to disappear before I see Ryoko again. So don't worry."

Ryoutarou still thought that she didn't really _get it_, but he just nodded anyway. He wasn't really sure what to say – or even what to _think_. His head was still spinning, like this was some bad dream he was going to wake up from any minute…

One thing was for certain, though. If Yuuto was still there when he got back, he was going to have a _lot_ of explaining to do.


	7. Chapter 6

Ryoko was exhausted. Frankly, she was surprised she hadn't just collapsed hours ago – this had to be the single longest day of her entire life.

At least Sieg had been moderately helpful – and although it had totally traumatized her the first time he'd possessed her, she was sort of getting resigned to the idea of guys in her body, so having him jump right in had been…not as bad as it might've. And he _had_ been very apologetic once he'd realized…

Except then he'd just mooned after Hana, which had been almost _worse_ because he was doing it in _her body_ – but the point was, this spatial-time rip thing he'd mentioned seemed to be important. But the whole ordeal had left her feeling totally drained, and there was still a very important unresolved issue to consider…

"Um," she'd said miserably, once they'd bid Sieg farewell and reboarded the train. "I think I'm going to need some new clothes."

She was still wearing Ozaki's coat, which just barely covered the scraps of her ruined outfit. Yuuto, who'd stayed on the Den-Liner for some reason, had turned bright red when she'd drawn this to his attention; it had almost been funny, except for that she was _half-naked_ in front of _boy-Yuuko_ oh god. Plus she was barefoot; she hadn't been able to find her shoes again after Momo had thrown them away…

Hana gave her the run of her limited wardrobe – unfortunately, she was about twice Ryoko's height, not to mention the differences in their figures. Ryoko made do, though, and about ten minutes later she was in Milk Dipper's restroom, surveying the damage as Yuuto made excuses to Airi.

It was so _weird_ to be here, inside of her own home, and yet – it wasn't. It wasn't her brother behind the counter, the customers weren't the familiar faces that she knew. Ozaki was still gone, thank god, it at least made it a little less weird – although he'd probably want his coat back at some point…

Well. There were more important matters at hand.

Her bra had remained intact, thankfully, just slipped out of the way when the Imagin had torn her shirt off; her underwear hadn't been so lucky, and Hana hadn't provided any. (Well, she couldn't blame her for _that_, they wouldn't have even fit her – Hana actually had _hips_, for one thing.) She'd ended up with a sort of floaty white shirt, which was almost a _dress_ on her, although it stayed okay when she used what was left of her skirt waistband to belt it on. The belt turned out to be a good idea, because the pair of shorts she'd grabbed didn't want to stay up – now wasn't _that_ just her luck, having a pair of shorts that wouldn't stay up when she didn't even have any underwear.

She looked in the mirror, and scowled. The effect was sort of off-putting, but…well, it was the best she could do. At least her shorts were staying more or less in place.

She stuffed the rest of the scraps into the wastebasket (it wasn't like they could be salvaged anyway) and opened the door again. Yuuto was standing just outside; his eyebrows raised very slightly as he turned to look at her.

"…Geeze," was all he said. Ryoko had a sudden horrible thought – what if _Ryoutarou_ had been attacked too, back in her universe?! …Well, he'd be better off than she was, anyway; from what they'd told her, Haru was probably closer to his size. Heck, even _Yuuko_ was probably closer to his size… She tried to envision a male version of herself in one of Yuuko's micro-dresses, and made a weird noise that was half-giggle and half-horrified scream.

They headed out again, although Ryoko wasn't really certain where they were going. Yuuto seemed to be having trouble looking at her for some reason, and he kept his gaze fixed pointedly straight in front of him as he talked.

"I told her that Nougami was staying over at my place tonight," he said, and Ryoko's heart sank. He wasn't any more optimistic than she was about getting her back home anytime soon. "It'll give us some extra time to figure out, you know, what the _hell_ we're going to do with you."

"Oh," she said faintly. Then, "Where _am_ I going to stay tonight?"

Yuuto was silent. Apparently he hadn't thought that far.

_Don't be stupid,_ Momo growled. _You'll be staying on the train, won't you?_

"What? I can't do that," Ryoko said in surprise – and then she realized that Yuuto was looking at her oddly, and she blushed right down to her still-bare feet. Yuuko never thought it was weird when she talked to the Imagin, and she'd sort of forgotten herself… "Um, that is, Momo was just saying I should stay on the Den-Liner. Which I can't do, obviously, because –"

"—because time doesn't move on the trains," Yuuto sighed. He glared at the ground, as though this were all its fault, and he was going to make it sorry. "Which _sucks_, because Zero-Liner is _way_ more comfortable than a stupid _sleeping bag_…"

_What is he talking about?_ Momo demanded. _Uh, time is passing right _now_, in case you haven't noticed. What –_

"Well, it's not that it doesn't _move_," Ryoko said slowly. Yuuto seemed to realize that she was talking to Momo now, because he was still staring at his feet with rapt fascination. "It's more like…it doesn't move in the same way."

_Even if Ryoko-chan slept on the train,_ said Ura, and Ryoko wondered why everyone seemed to be calling her that without even _asking_ first, _it wouldn't count. She'd wake up just as tired as she was before. Haven't you ever wondered why Hana-san never needs to sleep or eat?_

_I could've told you that,_ Ryuu said cheerfully. _Even Kuma-chan knew _that_! Wasn't it obvious?_

_What?! Why didn't anyone ever tell _me_?!_ Momo shouted, and Ryoko could practically _hear_ him waving his arms in frustration. She _did_ hear Ura's sigh, although he sounded more amused than actually exasperated.

_We just assumed you knew,_ he said. _It _was_ in the welcoming packet. Didn't you read it?_

What_ welcoming packet?!_

_The one everyone got when they boarded the train. You know, with the manual, and the diagrams of the safety exits, and the free coffee coupons…didn't you get yours, senpai?_

Ryoko tuned them out, shaking her head. Well, at least she'd be able to get some rest tonight, wherever it was – nothing lulled her to sleep quite like the sound of Momo and Ura fighting.

They walked another block and then Ryoko had to sit down, because her feet hurt too much from the rough pavement. Yuuto stood over her as she rubbed them in despair, looking like a particularly bad-tempered watchdog. Once again, she was struck by his resemblance to Haru; it was almost surreal…

"Um," Yuuto said, and Ryoko looked up at him. He was staring at the ground again, hands shoved into his pockets, apparently absorbed in a small pebble just by his left foot. "You could…stay with me. If you wanted."

Ryoko's jaw dropped, but she couldn't make any sound come out. Yuuto glanced up, saw her expression, and immediately turned beet-red.

"I didn't – I mean, you can sleep where Deneb usually stays, I'll make him sleep on the ground or something," he said quickly. "I didn't mean anything like – fucking _hell_, you're _Nougami_, I'm not going to – look, it's better than sleeping on a bench, okay!"

"I – you don't have to," Ryoko whispered, sort of terrified now. Yuuto was _scary_ when he yelled. "I could get a hotel room, or something…"

"You don't have any _money_," Yuuto pointed out. Ryoko had been trying not to think about that.

_It's a shame your clothes were ruined,_ Ura murmured, apparently having escaped Momo's wrath. _Otherwise we could sell your underwear to some businessman, and we'd be all set –_

"Oh my _god_," Ryoko whimpered, just as Momo screamed, _YOU FUCKING FOUL-MINDED TURTLE, I SWEAR I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU_ and, if Ryuu's cheering was any indication, attempted to pound Ura's head into the floor. Yuuto apparently misinterpreted her reaction, and threw his hands up in the air.

"Fine! Whatever!" he muttered. "Sleep on the fucking bench! Geeze, I try to be nice, and you just sit there and _squeak_ at me –"

"No, no, I'm sorry!" Ryoko said hastily. She could feel herself turning red, too; she and Yuuto must look like a matched set now. "It was just Ura, he said –" …Well, she wasn't going to explain _that_ to him. "—something stupid. If you're sure you don't mind…"

"Well, I _offered_, didn't I?" Yuuto grumbled, although he was starting to look as though he regretted it. "I wouldn't say you could if I didn't _mean it_. But, you know…only if nothing else shows up."

"Right," said Ryoko, and she almost managed a smile. She'd dealt with Haru long enough to know that this was Yuuto's way of being kind. "It's better than sleeping on a bench."

_What, senpai, _said Ura, somewhere in the background of her mind, _why are you so upset? Did _you_ want her underwear all to yourself?_

_KILL YOU,_ Momo screamed, and Ryoko decided to stop listening to them for the rest of forever.

She did end up staying at Yuuto's. Or at least, what passed for Yuuto's – she was _horrified_ when she saw it. Once again, though, Yuuto didn't take her reaction very well, and he kicked at the ground in frustration.

"Yeah, I know, it's not much," he said, which was a horrible understatement. It wasn't really _anything_. She didn't know what she'd been expecting – something like Yuuko's apartment, which was small but very cozy, only probably messier and more…boyish. But this wasn't even a _room_…

She would've thought he was joking, except that his stuff was spread all over the tower, and Deneb was standing inside, waving cheerfully at them from over the railing. Ryoko wondered why he didn't have an apartment – then she wondered why Yuuko _did_ – then she could practically _feel_ the comment Ura would have made if he knew she was thinking this, and decided it didn't matter. She'd ask Yuuko if she ever got back home.

_When_ she got back home. She had to keep telling herself that…

"Sorry," she said, and she tried to smile at him, although it came out sort of wobbly. "I was just – surprised. It's very…open."

"Lots of fresh air!" Deneb said happily, ushering her up the first flight of steps. He thrust a bowl of shiitake salad at her, and Ryoko's fingers closed around it automatically. "Eat up, there's plenty!"

"It's _shiitake_," Yuuto said in horror. Deneb held out a bowl for him hopefully, but Yuuto – _leapt_ at him and appeared to try to strangle him, and Ryoko could only watch in terror, clutching the salad to her chest as though it were the only thing she could be sure of in this crazy, crazy world.

"DENEB YOU IDIOT I TOLD YOU IF I EVER SAW A SHIITAKE AGAIN I WOULD _CASTRATE YOU WITH IT_," Yuuto was yelling. Deneb flailed, nearly knocked over the table, and gibbered something about Imagin being technically androgynous, but Yuuto didn't seem to care. Instead he whacked him in the face a few times and yelled more about how Deneb was obviously trying to poison him and how dare he even _think_ about shiitake in his presence.

"Um," Ryoko said finally, just to remind them that she was there. Yuuto broke off in mid-slap and _stared_ at her in horror, as though he'd forgotten, as she sort of suspected he had. Deneb waved at her from his position under Yuuto's other fist.

"Oh _fuck_," said Yuuto, "that is, I mean – Deneb, you're an idiot, now get off that floor and _stop embarrassing our guest_!"

"I'm sure it would be even less embarrassing for her if you ate your salad," Deneb said craftily. Yuuto pummeled him again, apparently out of reflex.

…It was strange. Ryoko was horrified at his treatment of Deneb, of course – but she'd _seen_ Yuuko angry before, and she'd seen Yuuto in worse moods by this point, and…it didn't seem like he really meant it, somehow. There wasn't any real force behind his slaps, and Deneb almost seemed to _enjoy_ it, as though getting Yuuto flustered meant he was doing something right …

She shook her head. She wanted to go back to her own _sane_ universe, where things made _sense_ and people didn't express their love by beating each other up.

The salad was delicious, at least; Deneb's cooking hadn't suffered at all from the abuse. Yuuto even gave in and ate his, albeit only after theatrically fishing out every single shiitake and flinging it over the side of the railing. Ryoko hoped nobody was standing underneath them.

"But shiitake are _good for you_," Deneb insisted, and got a shiitake right in the face for his troubles.

Ryoko almost laughed – and immediately felt sorry for Deneb (although it was still kind of funny, in a horrible sort of way). At least Yuuto shared Yuuko's utter hatred of shiitake, that was something nice and familiar – the only difference was that Yuuto didn't seem too concerned about hiding it to spare Deneb's feelings. And he was much less discreet about picking them out when Deneb wasn't looking…

She was almost comfortable by the time she settled down in Deneb's cot, wrapped in a nest of warm blankets. (Deneb had assured her he didn't mind sleeping on the ground with only one thin blanket that didn't even cover all of him, _really_.) As weird and violent as this place was, there was a very…_homey_ feel to it, one that sort of soothed her, made her feel like things might really be okay after all.

At least now she knew why Yuuto had chosen this, of all places. When she lay back and looked up, all she could see were the stars, looking back down at her…

* * *

Ryoutarou was dreaming. He _knew_ he was – first of all, he knew for a fact that this was not where he'd gone to sleep. (It had been Yuuko's apartment, and it had taken him forever to fall asleep, too traumatized by the sheer _girliness_ of it. There were even _boy-band_ posters on the walls – and they were all ten years out of date, which was somehow even _worse_.) And he was pretty certain none of the Imagin had possessed him, mainly because of the second thing.

The second thing was that he was sitting at a table in Milk Dipper, only it wasn't Milk Dipper. It _looked_ like it; everything was in the right place, all the tables and chairs and books – but there was no Airi behind the counter, no customers in the shop, and there was something distinctly _wrong_ about it all. As though someone had taken Milk Dipper, duplicated it, and then pasted it over itself…all the edges were faintly blurred, and some of the books and pictures had different images and covers overlapping the right ones, like there had been tiny differences in the two Milk Dippers. That, and there was no ceiling.

He wondered why he hadn't noticed it earlier. Instead of a ceiling, there was just the open night sky, full of more stars than he'd ever seen before; somehow, it seemed to extend _into_ the shop, just brushing the edges of the walls. The constellations were outlined in blue, twisting and overlapping over each other as they moved through space…

Yep, this was definitely a dream. It didn't feel like his usual dreams, though; normally his dreams involved more running for his life while things exploded around him, and occasionally – on more horrible nights – empty rowboats in lakes. So why –

He looked down from the ceiling, and nearly jumped. There was a girl sitting across from him.

She looked startled, too, as though she'd also just noticed him, and she almost upset the cup of coffee sitting in front of her as she shrank back. (There was one in front of him, too, Ryoutarou noticed. It smelled good; Airi's house blend, without any of the gross stuff she liked to dump in it to make it 'healthier' for him. Ah, this really _was_ a dream…)

For a moment they just stared at each other, and then they both said, in unison, "What –"

They broke off at the same time and avoided each other's eyes, staring down at their coffee in embarrassment. Shame overwhelmed him – even in his dreams, he had trouble talking to girls.

She was cute, too, which made it worse. He snuck another glance at her (and saw her sneaking one at him at the same time). She was short and round-faced, with big dark eyes and long dark hair, a very straight nose, and the expression of a kicked puppy on antidepressants…

Somehow, it was this last part that made him realize, and he forgot he wasn't going to look directly at her and just _stared_ again. She blushed and stared at her hands – but then she seemed to realize it too, and looked up at him again in astonishment.

"You're…Ryoutarou?" she said softly. Ryoutarou nodded, and Ryoko smiled, very shakily. "Oh. …It's nice to finally meet you."

"You too," said Ryoutarou – or at least, that's what he meant to say. What came out instead was, "Isn't that Hana's shirt?"

Ryoko turned even redder, and Ryoutarou could feel his own face starting to match hers. She _was_, though – he was pretty sure that was Hana's, anyway. He knew he'd seen something similar on her before…

"I had to borrow it," she said suddenly, snapping him out of his thoughts. She seemed deeply embarrassed at this; Ryoutarou had the impression that he really shouldn't ask.

They both fell silent then, neither of them sure of what to say. Ryoutarou had thought that there'd be a million things he'd want to say to her – to ask her – but somehow, actually coming face-to-face with her…

It really didn't help that she was a girl. Damnit, he still had trouble talking to _Yuka_ sometimes, how was he supposed to talk to a girl version of himself?!

He almost didn't notice when she broke the silence, clearing her throat as she fidgeted with her cup. "So," she said slowly, "this is…real, then? This isn't just an alternate timeline, you're actually…still out there somewhere?"

"…Still?"

"Well – yes," she said, and blushed again. Ryoutarou blushed too, out of reflex. "I stepped off the train and now I'm stuck in your…world, or time, or whatever." She must have seen something in his face, then, because she added, "And you're…are you in mine?"

Ryoutarou shrugged. "I guess," he said quietly. "According to Sieg, there was something that happened when we got off the train…"

"…like time had been torn up and put back together again," Ryoko finished. It seemed that she'd been talking to Sieg, too. "I hope that means something to you, because I have no idea what he meant by that."

Ryoutarou shrugged helplessly, and Ryoko sighed and stared down into her coffee, tilting the cup so that it sloshed from one side to the other. "So we didn't really learn anything after all, huh?"

He shook his head, and then neither of them spoke for a while, just sat there. It should've been an awkward silence, but it wasn't; somehow, after the initial shock of holy-hell-it's-me-as-a-chick, Ryoutarou found himself feeling strangely…non-awkward. This was a new feeling for him, especially in the presence of a girl – but this was like…like Airi, or someone that he'd known his whole life. Which might not be inaccurate, come to think of it…

This time he was the one who spoke first. He wasn't even sure why he said it, but before he could stop himself he was saying, "So…why are we _here_?"

Ryoko shrugged. She didn't seem surprised by the question.

"Dunno," she sighed. "I thought this was a dream, but it doesn't –"

"—feel like one," Ryoutarou finished. He stared thoughtfully into his coffee, as though it would reveal unto him all the answers. It didn't. "I'm pretty sure this is real. Sort of real, anyway. But if we're stuck in alternate universes, how can we…?"

"Maybe _because_ it's a dream?" she suggested weakly. "Maybe if our universes are – connected, somehow – they're intersecting, or…something?"

It _sounded_ good, but somehow, Ryoutarou knew that she had as much idea of what it meant as he did. He took a sip of the coffee – it was just as good as it smelled – and considered. There had to be some reason they were both here, and it probably wasn't just to wonder why; maybe there was some clue here, some important piece of evidence that could helpd them fix things…

Ryoko seemed to have the same thought, because after a moment she stood up, leaving her coffee and starting to pull books out of the near wall, like she was looking for something. Most of them were innocuous volumes that Ryoutarou remembered stocking, but some of them had that weird, overlayed effect over them – because they were different books in her world, he realized suddenly. He looked around more carefully; now that he knew, he could _see_ where the two Milk Dippers overlapped, where small things were different, little changes in something that was almost exactly the same…

It was like one of those puzzles, where you had to find all the differences in two pictures that looked identical. Ryoutarou had always liked those – he didn't have much luck with puzzles in general, but these he was good at, and now that he was _looking_ for them, he couldn't imagine why he hadn't seen them all before.

"How weird," Ryoko was saying, as Ryoutarou inspected the rest of the store. (Mostly there seemed to be less dents in the archways – which made sense, because Ryoko was shorter than him – and more down by the floor, where she'd probably landed instead.) "There doesn't seem to be any reason for these things to be different – I mean, I know we have this book, too, it's just on a different shelf. I don't get it…"

She flipped through it, frowning as the text squirmed around on the page, then shut it again with a clap. "I mean, there's nothing significant about any of these books in general," she continued. "Except maybe for this one here, _Guide to Navajo Constellations_. I think Sakurai-san didn't like that author or something, she said he was a deranged lunatic who'd probably never once looked up at the sky in his lifetime…"

Ryoutarou looked up in surprise, glancing over at the book she'd indicated – and grinned when he saw what it was in _her_ world. "That's funny, because my Sakurai-san said the same thing about _Canis Major and You_…"

"Well, obviously she has horrible taste as a man," Ryoko said primly. Ryoutarou laughed – actually _laughed_, which surprised himself; it was shaky and small, but it'd been so long since he'd really genuinely _laughed_ at anything, let alone something involving Sakurai-san…

Ryoko stared at him, but then she laughed, too, and picked up another book. "And what about this one?" she said, holding it up. "_A Complete Analysis of Ptolemy's Almagest_ – that sounds like the most boring book in existence –"

"Like _Neo-Babylonian Astronomy for Everyday Life_ is any better," he retorted. Ryoko threw it at him; he tried to duck but didn't go down far enough, and ended up getting it full in the face anyway.

That just made her laugh harder, and before either of them knew it, it had turned into an all-out book fight – it wasn't like this was the _real_ Milk Dipper, so Airi wouldn't mind, and…the books didn't really hurt. It was like being hit with soft pillows; Ryoutarou could feel the contact, but there was no sting behind it. This really _was_ a dream after all – or at least some weird kind of half-dream, half-reality, as though he were awake inside of a dreamworld…

They kept talking as they went, and at some point, the conversation turned from Sakurai-san to life in general. They talked about their past, everything from their parents to high school and even, much to Ryoutarou's surprise, Naoki.

"Wait, you – _liked_ him?" Ryoutarou said in disbelief. Ryoko turned scarlet.

"You mean that you and – and Naomi-san – you never…oh god," she moaned, burying her face in her hands. Ryoutarou was torn between being amused and being totally horrified at the idea of having any sort of relations with _Naomi_. Sure, she was pretty and very nice, and the Imagin probably wouldn't mind as long as she kept them supplied with coffee, but…_Naomi_!

_That_ got them started in an entirely new direction. They compared their favorite food, music, movies, whatever they could think of; the answers were almost always similar, although there were also some very glaring differences.

"You have _how many_ friends?" Ryoutarou said in disbelief. Ryoko shrugged.

"They're Yuuko's friends, really," she said, as though this made all the difference in the world. "She just likes to bring me along when they do stuff togeher. You've met her, haven't you? So you know that she's – well –"

"—not like Yuuto," Ryoutarou said, which was probably the understatement of the entire millenium. He thought back to Yuuko, who was cheerful and friendly and could probably make friends with a brick – no, it really wasn't any surprise that her social life extended outside of insulting people and beating up Deneb.

This was weird. He couldn't remember _ever_ being so comfortable around another human being in his life – or even another _being_, period, not even Momo. The filter between his brain and his mouth had dissolved away; he was saying things that he'd only ever thought way down in the bowels of his mind, that he was always too shy or too polite to so much as think loudly. He wasn't even thinking of her as a girl anymore – well, she still was, but she was no longer looming in his head as _oh my god girl_, or even as _oh my god me as a girl_, just…

He tilted his head and considered her, trying to figure out _what_ he thought of her as. Not as an extension of himself, or even another himself; she was just…_Ryoko_. He didn't think he could really conceptualize it any further than that…

"Ryoutarou," she whispered, and Ryoutarou snapped out of his thoughts. She looked _terrified_ all of a sudden, still looking off to the side, and he turned to see –

There was a man standing on the other side of the store.

He hadn't been there a second ago, Ryoutarou was sure of it – but there he was, standing there and looking back at them, looking bored. He seemed to be around their age, and he was wearing a long black coat, like a very stylish secret agent. There was a handheld camera hung around his neck, and he was fiddling with it as they watched him.

"Oh," he said, apparently just noticing that they'd seen him. "Don't mind me. Act as though I'm not even here."

"Who are you?" Ryoko demanded, just as Ryoutarou said, "What are you doing here?"

The man sighed and rolled his eyes, as though they were being very annoying by not simply pretending he didn't exist. "All right," he said impatiently, "I'm a figment of your combined imaginations, brought to life in your dreams to…conceptualize your inner feelings of…something-or-another. It's all very complicated and vaguely Freudian. Now if you'll excuse me…"

He got back to his camera, apparently having trouble winding the film – it wasn't digital, which Ryoutarou thought was odd. Who still used a film camera in this day and age?

He and Ryoko exchanged glances, then looked back at the strange man. Hesitantly, Ryoutarou started, "But – who are you…"

"…and what are you _doing_?" she finished. The man looked back up at them, eyebrows raised.

"You're finishing each other's sentences," he sneered. "How precious. Look, I'm very busy – this spacial rip is causing us all a _giant_ headache, and while you two have given me a convenient lock-on with your happy little dreamworld, you're going to wake up any minute now and I _really_ need to get this done –"

He wound the film one more time, this time looking satisfied at the result; evidently he'd managed whatever he'd been trying to do. He held it up and pointed it at them, looking down through the viewfinder.

"Say cheese," he said, and he pressed the shutter.


	8. Chapter 7

Ryoko woke up.

Usually it took her a while to fully wake up – she wasn't a morning person, and she would drift in and out of coherency in the mornings, and have difficulty remembering things, especially her dreams. But this time it was like she'd suddenly snapped back into consciousness; there was no interim period of grogginess, just straight from the dream to the real world.

This _was_ the real world, she was sure of it. It _felt_ real, not fuzzy around the edges like the dream had been. She sat up and looked around – she was still in Deneb's cot, blankets wrapped tightly around her, and in a cold sweat (although this was probably less because of the dream and more because she'd slept outdoors).

It was strange. Her body was rested, but her mind felt like it had never fallen asleep…

She didn't see Yuuto anywhere, but she found Deneb busily airing out Yuuto's sleeping bag on the lower level, and he very cheerfully provided her with a couple of pancakes for breakfast.

"There's no shiitake in this, is there?" she asked suspiciously. She _knew_ Deneb. "And – where did…_he_ go?"

(She still wasn't comfortable saying Yuuto's name. She kept wanting to call him Yuuko, and then she wasn't sure if he'd mind her calling him by his given name, and…well, she was confused enough by this whole place in general, she figured she was allowed _some_ leeway.)

"Yuuto left earlier to go check something," Deneb explained. Ryoko noticed that he had not answered her first question. "He didn't tell me what, only that I should stay here with you. I don't think he expected to be very long…"

Ryoko gave in and ate her pancakes, which were slightly spongy but very good, and was just starting to wonder exactly how long Yuuto _had_ expected to take when Deneb said, sounding surprised, "Ah! Welcome home, Yuuto!"

She turned around to see that Yuuto was not only back, but Hana was with him. They had identical scowls on their faces – now that was strange; it was one thing for Haru to resemble Yuuto, that was probably just an angry boy thing or something, but _Hana_? She didn't have any time to reflect on this, though, because Hana's face immediately softened when she saw her.

"Geeze, she looks even tinier in my clothes," she remarked. Ryoko blushed and tried to casually pull her sleeves back.

Yuuto, demonstrating his inability to make any sort of small talk whatsoever, got right to the point. "We may have a lead," he said, leaning over the railing. "It's not certain yet, but –"

"—you remember how Owner had me send off a message?" Hana interrupted. Yuuto glared at her, but she didn't seem to notice, and continued, "Well, we got a reply."

Actually, Ryoko had totally forgotten about that. What with everything _else_ going on…still, she managed to get her brain working again after only a second, and she asked, "Who was it?"

Hana and Yuuto exchanged glances. For a moment, she thought they wouldn't answer – but then Yuuto said, "The station master."

There was a very long pause.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry," Ryoko said finally. "I could've sworn you just said –"

"We don't know any more than that," Hana interrupted, having anticipated her next question. "But…Den-Liner's a train, after all, and so I suppose it only stands to reason that there's a station…"

She looked bothered, as though not knowing something about Den-Liner was disturbing to her. Yuuto didn't look bothered, though; he just looked impatient.

"Come on," he said, gesturing back in the direction he and Hana had come from. Ryoko nodded vaguely, still trying to process the whole _station master what the hell_ thing. "The message is for you. You have to be there for it."

"Owner wouldn't tell us without you there," Hana explained. Yuuto sighed, apparently irritated at how Ryoko was taking more than two seconds to leap to attention, and before Ryoko knew what he was doing he'd leaned over and – _grabbed_ her, physically lifting her over the railing. He wasn't rough about it, it didn't hurt – but Ryoko yelped in surprise and sort of fell over when he set her down, right onto him.

_I'm going to kill him,_ Momo declared. This was a relief; not because Yuuto had been threatened with death, but because the Imagin had been oddly silent all morning, and Ryoko had kind of been wondering why they hadn't piped up by now.

"Um," she started, not sure whether she was talking to Yuuto or Momo or both, but Yuuto had already let go of her and was stalking back away again. Hana was running after him, shouting something along the lines of "how dare you, have you no manners", so Ryoko had to wish a quick goodbye to Deneb (who looked astonished that someone had actually remembered he was there) and run after them.

Den-Liner was still stopped, so they were able to board immediately, and two minutes later Ryoko was standing in front of Owner and his fried rice, Yuuto and Hana on either side of her. The Imagin were crowding around them – save for Ryuu, who was blowing bubbles in the corner, and Kin, who was asleep, and Momo was pretending not to be interested even if he was doing a horrible job of it, and…well, all right, only Ura was really _crowding_. Even then, Ryoko suspected this was less because of any actual interest and more so he had an excuse to stand behind her and breathe heavily.

"Well?" Yuuto demanded, after a moment of silence. Owner looked up from his rice, glared at him, and then took another careful bite; Yuuto fell silent and didn't speak again.

They waited in total silence; Ryoko could _feel_ the others shifting impatiently beside her, but finally the stupid flag fell over and, after throwing his hands up in despair, Owner cleared his throat.

"As you are aware," he said gravely, because Owner was probably incapable of saying anything with any semblance of actual emotion, "yesterday, a message detailing your predicament was sent out to the Time Station, along with a request for advice. This is _not_ standard procedure –" He glared around at them, as though they had suggested otherwise. "—but based off of certain recent events, as well as Sieg's testimony, I suspected that your presence here was indicative of a larger problem than a simple chronological malfunction."

Nobody asked how he knew what Sieg had said. Ryoko wasn't even sure she wanted to know.

"I was correct," Owner continued. "That the Station Master replied at all confirms that this situation goes beyond the Den-Liner's jurisdiction. This is no error in the timestream…" He paused for dramatic effect (or so Ryoko assumed, because she couldn't see any other reason). "No, this is a matter of…_alternate universes_."

"Alternate _what_?" Hana yelped. Yuuto's jaw had dropped, and even Momo looked shocked, having apparently forgotten that he was pretending not to listen. "Owner, are you saying that alternate universes _exist_?"

"Of course they do," said Owner. Ryoko wondered if she was the only one not surprised by this. After magical flying trains that travelled through time to defeat evil memory-eating demons from the future, the concept of alternate universes sounded pretty plausible. "Just as the timelines branch and weave, so does the world itself. And just as time can be tampered with, so can the very universe…"

"A spacial rip," Ryoko whispered, remembering what the strange man from her dream had said. Owner raised an eyebrow, but this was his only reaction; nobody else seemed to notice. In fact, everyone else seemed to be growing even _more_ impatient.

"What did Station Master's reply say?" Hana demanded. Owner gave her a very flat stare, then turned back to Ryoko.

"The message was for you," he said. "It should tell you all that you need to know."

Ryoko waited, her heart fluttering nervously in her chest. Owner's sense of theatrical suspense had never been more distressing.

"It says…" Owner started. Everyone leaned forward in anticipation; it was like the entire car was holding its breath. "…_Don't panic_."

Ryoko blinked.

"Is…that it?" she asked weakly. Owner sat back, hands folded over the top of his cane.

"That is all you need to know," he said, and his tone made it clear that this was the end of the conversation. Ryoko wondered why she'd expected anything else.

Hana protested a lot, and Yuuto protested even more; Momo flat-out shouted and flailed, but Owner simply refused to say any more on the subject. Ryoko ignored them all and sat down at a booth, feeling utterly confused.

This made no sense. He'd just said it was worse than a problem in the timestream – but was the station actually going to _help_? What kind of advice was 'don't panic'? That didn't tell them how they were supposed to fix this!

She was never going to get home, was she? She was never going to get to go to _her_ Milk Dipper ever again, or fight with _her_ Momo, or get yelled at by Haru. She was never going to go shopping with Yuuko, or listen to Ozaki and Miura fight over her brother, or even see Ashiri again…

Ryoutarou was never going to come home. It seemed all the worse now that she'd actually _met_ him – he wasn't just a name or a concept anymore; he was someone _real_, someone that she knew. Someone that she'd laughed and had coffee with, who was another _her_…

She'd been trying not to cry, but once again, her body wouldn't listen. At least nobody noticed; everyone was still too busy yelling at Owner, and Ryuu was making things worse by blowing bubbles right in their faces. And Kin…

A tissue was thrust unceremoniously in front of her face. Ryoko stared at it.

"Don't cry," Kin said, his voice surprisingly gentle. "The only thing there is to weep over is –"

"—yes, I know," Ryoko sighed, but she took the tissue anyway, and felt a bit better as she dabbed at her eyes. Kin stood there and waited while she calmed down again, which was strangely soothing; he still wasn't _her_ Kin, but…it helped, just having his big comforting presence beside her.

She blew her nose, still brooding over the weird message. _Don't panic_. Why _shouldn't_ she panic? If there were ever anything to panic about, a spacial rip that had hurled her into an alternate dimension would be it. Why…

"Yeah, stop snivelling," Momo muttered, sliding into the seat across from her. "You'll get back home eventually."

Ryoko stared at him, and he _blushed_ – he actually blushed, turning even redder than he was normally. She hadn't even known he _could_ blush. "What?" he demanded. "I'm not just leaving Ryoutarou in some freaky-ass girl world! So if we're going to get him back, that means we have to figure out how to put _you_ back, so –"

"Senpai is correct," Ura interrupted. "It stands to reason that rescuing Ryoutarou would involve returning you to your world, in all its feminine glory. Actually, I wouldn't mind going there myself – but if it meant leaving you, Ryoko-chan…"

"Nobody asked you!" Momo screamed, leaping wildly out of the seat. Ura ducked, and Momo went right into Kin, who immediately declared a contest of strength, and they began grappling right there on the dining car floor while Ryuu and Naomi cheered them on. Yuuto and Hana still looked upset, but Ryoko felt better; she knew that that had been the Imagin's way of telling her not to worry, they were going to help fix things.

_Don't panic_…

A sudden suspicion blossomed in her mind. It couldn't be – surely Owner would've told her, there was no reason to keep it from her…

Still, she got up slowly, side-stepping the still-wrestling Imagin, and headed back towards Owner's table. He glanced up as she approached.

"Owner," she said carefully, "are there…other people? I mean, like how Den-O protects the timestream – are there people like that for dimensions…?"

She could feel Yuuto and Hana staring at her, but she kept her eyes on Owner's face. It was a wasted effort, though; his expression remained totally blank, and he said nothing at all.

The silence discouraged her. He was probably just going to ignore her stupid question – she was about to turn away again when he finally spoke.

"The Den-Liner is a train that travels through time," he said, more sharply than she'd expected. "We do not concern ourselves with anything else. As long as the timestream remains intact, there is no need for us to become involved."

"Oh," Ryoko said, disappointed. It would've made so much sense…

"Ah," Ura murmured, from directly behind her. Ryoko was getting used to him now, and only jumped a little this time. "But that's not a no, now, is it?"

Ryoko looked back at him in surprise. "No," she said softly. "It's not. Does that mean – they don't want us to panic, because they're taking care of it? Is that what Station Master was telling us?"

She looked hopefully at Owner, who stared impassively back.

"Time is made up of memories," he said finally. "But dimensions…are different. The rules work in unexpected and unusual ways." He paused, then – looking directly into her eyes – added, "And some would say that dreams are dimensions unto themselves…"

"What does _that_ have to do with anything?" Yuuto snapped, but Ryoko barely heard him. She just _stared_ at Owner – he _couldn't_ know, how could he possibly – oh god, _maybe he could read her mind_. She tried desperately not to think of anything embarrassing, failed utterly, and buried her face in her hands in shame.

"As I said," said Owner, and she peeked out again from between her fingers. He was still looking right at her. "The Den-Liner is involved only with the timestream. We do not concern ourselves with anything else."

And that was that. There was no arguing with that tone – even Yuuto didn't protest it, just looked annoyed and confused (but that was pretty much his default expression, so that was okay).

But it wasn't a _no_…

Was that who the mysterious man had been, then? Was he also a Rider, just one who fixed dimensions instead of time? Why couldn't he have just _told_ them – maybe they could've helped! But then, what had even caused this whole mess in the first place? Maybe there was some monster, something like an Imagin, but for _space_…

She sat down again, her head whirling. Maybe the dream-man had been the bad guy, making things worse instead of trying to fix them. Or maybe he was something else entirely – Owner hadn't said no, but he hadn't said _yes_, either, and it was possible Ryoko was entirely wrong about all this.

If only there was someone she could _talk_ to – if this had been her world, she might've asked the Imagin, but for all that they were like them, these weren't her friends. She didn't know them well enough to know that they wouldn't laugh at her, or tell her it was just a dream – heck, even _her_ Imagin would've done that. And, well, it was exactly the opposite for Hana – she seemed friendly enough, but Ryoko saw enough of Haru in her that she was pretty sure she'd tell her not to pay any attention to silly dreams. And _Yuuto_…

She wished for the millionth time that Yuuko were here. She could tell Yuuko _anything_, and she would take her seriously when she said it was _real_, she just knew it was. She'd listen, and she'd do her best to help; even if no one else went along with it, she would never leave Ryoko alone in anything.

But Yuuto was big and growly and yelled a lot, and she was pretty sure he hated her, based on the way he kept _staring_ at her and then looking furious and extra-surly. He was so _violent_ with Deneb for no reason, and he didn't seem like he even liked Ryoutarou very much, and…

He'd helped her, he'd given her a place to sleep, and he was still here even though he could've left long ago. He'd grumbled and cursed and shouted throughout the whole thing, but he'd still _done it_; he might not like her, but at the very least, maybe he'd _listen_…

She wished she could see Ryoutarou again – he was even easier for her to talk to than Yuuko, and she wouldn't have to worry about him not believing her. But what could he _do_, while they were asleep? And what if another meeting only caused the man to come back?

Things had settled down by now. Naomi had passed out coffee, temporarily placating the Imagin; Owner was sitting there and staring straight ahead like he always did, and Yuuto was on the other side of the car, pacing. Hana came over to check on her, but Ryoko waved her off again.

She cast another glance at Yuuto…who was staring right at her. He realized she'd seen him and he turned red, giving her such a scowl that she was amazed she didn't immediately burst into flame, and he turned away again.

Well, he was scary and angry and hated her, but he was her best chance right now. She stood up, tried not to wobble, and shuffled over.

"Hey," she squeaked – then she swallowed hard, and tried again. "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute…?"

* * *

Ryoutarou woke up to find himself hurtling down a steep hill at forty miles per hour.

"Oh!" said his body, and it took him a second of flailing before he realized that it wasn't actually _him_. "You're awake! _Finally_!"

It was just as well he wasn't in control, because he probably would've been too shocked to brake right then, pulling the bike up short and nearly sending them flying over the handlebars. Ryuu – he assumed it was Ryuu, anyway, from the tone of the voice – grinned and hefted the plastic bag they were carrying.

"Yucchan sent us out for groceries," she said happily. "Geeze, you slept soooo late! It's almost noon!"

_What?_ Ryoutarou said, his poor mind having difficulty processing all this. One second he'd been in Milk Dipper with Ryoko, and the next he was here, with no idea what was going on. _Wait, _what_? Yucchan – you mean Yuuko?_

"Duh," Ryuu said, drawing it out into one long syllable. She unbraked and they were off again, albeit at a more reasonable speed this time. "Your body's totally stupid, by the way. I can go _way_ faster than this with Ryoko!"

_Oh my god you go _faster_?!_ Ryoutarou gibbered. Ryuu laughed and pedaled harder, building up even more speed; he was suddenly profoundly, intensely grateful that _his_ Ryuu had never gotten on his bike.

They reached the bottom of the hill and zoomed down the street, presumably heading back towards Yuuko's apartment. Ryoutarou tried to orient himself, floundered, and gave up.

_All right,_ he said. _Why did Yuuko send Ryuu out for groceries?_

_Because she didn't have enough, obviously,_ Momo said, as though this should be obvious. Ryoutaru felt that this was missing the point.

_But why did she send _Ryuu_?_ he asked. Surely she wasn't _that_ stupid…

_She didn't,_ Ura broke in. _She actually sent me, but Ryuu-chan took over while we were at the store –_

"Liar," Ryuu said cheerfully, just narrowly missing a random pedestrian. "She sent Momo! She said, you go to the store and get me a dozen eggs, a stick of butter, a pack of –"

_Yes, well, she _meant_ to send me,_ said Ura, and if Ryoutarou had had hands right then, he probably would've waved them in frustration. (Well, okay, he wouldn't have – he would've been more likely to just curl up in the fetal position and gibber until he felt sane again – but he would've at least had the _option_.)

_Okay,_ he said, in what he thought was a reasonable way. _Why is Yuuko sending us out on errands at all?_

"'Cause we were there, silly," Ryuu giggled. Ryoutarou realized with horror that his voice really was not made for giggling. "And she said we could get some candy while we were there too, so –"

_But – she's having us run her errands?!_

"Uh, hel_lo_, _candy_," she said, as though this was reason enough. For her, it probably was.

_What, that doesn't happen in your world?_ Momo snorted. _Hey, maybe we could all move there. I'm really sick of her always making us do shit like this. It's always, 'oh hi, as long as Ryoko isn't up yet, would you mind ever-so-much just running out and getting a couple of things –'_

"She said she'd make us omelettes!" Ryuu said happily. Okay, there was one advantage her to her going so fast – nobody around them could hear her talking. "And I got _chocolate_!"

_She does this _all the time_?_ Ryoutarou said in bewilderment. _She – talks to you when Ryoko's asleep? _What_?_

"Well, yeah," said Ryuu, as though it should be obvious. "You know, like, when Ryoko stays over and she oversleeps so we get up for her, and –"

_Ah,_ Ura sighed. _I think I see the problem. They don't do that for you, do they?_

_The Imagin? Sometimes, when I can't keep them out,_ he said. He was getting really confused now. _But…I mean, they don't run errands or anything, mostly they just get in trouble – no offense…_

_Wow. Boys suck,_ said Momo. Ura laughed, a high, tinkling sound that sort of traumatized Ryoutarou.

_It's our body too,_ she said. _It would be extremely inconvenient for us if she ran herself down._

Wow, Ryoutarou realized. Boys really _did_ suck. …All right, that wasn't fair; it wasn't like his Imagin never did _anything_. They did _try_ to keep him out of trouble, like when he'd been arrested for kidnapping Sieg's brother – and sometimes when he'd had a long night, they'd get him up and dressed and have breakfast, and wake him up just in time to help Airi open the store. They'd never volunteered to run errands, though…

Ryuu banked sharply to the left, nearly splattering them against a brick wall, and whizzed down the street. Ryoutarou wondered what the heck she was doing – he didn't remember Yuuko's apartment being in _this_ part of town…

Evidently, he wasn't the only one, because Ura spoke up again just then. _Ryuu-chan,_ she said suspiciously, _where are you taking us?_

"Oh, I'm just gonna head up here," Ryuu said innocently, turning off into a nearby alleyway. (Well, semi-alleyway. They were still in a fairly suburban area; it was about as close to an alleyway as they were going to get.) She stopped and hopped off the bike, setting the grocery bag on the ground beside it.

_You brat, what are you – _Momo started angrily, but Ura cut her off with an, _Ah._ Ryoutarou might've said something too, but he was in too much shock.

The man from his dream was standing right in front of them, holding up his camera. Ryoutarou wondered if it were possible for a disembodied mind to have a heart attack.

"You've been following us since we left the store," Ryuu said accusingly, hands on their hips. The man shrugged and didn't answer, just wound his film.

_You could've said something,_ Momo grumbled. Ryuu pouted, ignoring her, and snapped their fingers – this time the man looked up, and he still had that same condescending expression as he'd had in the dream.

"That's not going to work on me," he said. "Now, just hold still so I can get your –"

_Kin-chan, wake _up_,_ Ura hissed, and Ryoutarou felt the familiar _push_ – and suddenly they weren't Ryuu anymore. The man didn't seem to have been expecting this; he looked up from the camera's viewfinder and frowned, opening his mouth to say something…

If it had been anyone except Kin, he might've seen it coming – but Ryoutarou was pretty sure the guy hadn't expected them to suddenly scream, "I'LL MAKE YOU CRY, YOU STALKER!!" and take a flying leap onto him. They went down hard, and this whole thing was almost entirely worth it just for the look on the man's face.

He didn't really fight back, which surprised Ryoutarou – instead he grabbed his camera and tried to curl around it, like he was protecting it for some reason. It was easy enough for Kin to wrestle him down and just _sit_ on him, holding his arms down and staring down into his face. The camera had gotten knocked aside, and was laying in the dust beside them.

"You _idiot_, what are you doing!" the man was yelling. "I'm trying to _help_ you! Let go of me, or I swear, I'll –"

"You're too noisy," Kin said, and she banged her face right into his. It didn't knock him out, but he did seem to be sort of stunned; he shut up, anyway. Ryoutarou heard Ura sigh.

_Okay, Kin-chan,_ she said, _let me handle this. Just do what I tell you…_

Kin listened and nodded – Ryoutaru was too horrified to say anything, otherwise he might've objected to what Ura was telling her to say. As it was, all he could do was sit (or float, or whatever the hell he did when he wasn't up front) back as Kin put her foot against the guy's head.

"Why were you taking pictures of us?" Kin demanded, at Ura's prompting. "TELL ME BEFORE I CRUSH YOU UTTERLY BENEATH ME, YOU BASTARD!!"

(That last part had not been from Ura. Apparently Kin believed in improvising.)

"You have no idea who you're –" he started furiously, but Kin leaned down heavily on their foot, and he shut up.

"This," Kin said, after another moment of listening to Ura, "is my foot. This is your head. If you don't tell me _what the hell_ you're doing, they're going to be introduced to each other _very quickly_."

She frowned at him – it was just a normal Kin-frown, Ryoutarou knew, but to the guy it probably looked like she was going to bash his head in. He didn't look concerned, though, more just irritated, as though having someone threaten to kick his head in was merely inconvenient.

"All right, fine," he said, "fine, you caught me. I'm a scouter for a model agency –"

_Really?_ said Momo, just as Ura said, _Yeah, right._ Kin just snorted, which got across her opinion.

"—oh, fine, I'm a stalker with a great big crush on your stupid face," the guy muttered. "I'll reform, go straight – literally – and never bother you again, just let me –"

Kin reached out and grabbed the camera, holding it up in front of the man's face, and his arrogant sneer suddenly _cracked_ – a flash of pure _fury_ came over his face, even as it immediately settled back into that earlier blank expression.

"This," he said flatly, "has gone on long enough. My god, what's that over there –"

_Oh please,_ Ura sighed, _don't think we'll be taken in by that old – _Kin-chan_!_

Kin had turned to look, and while their guard was down, the guy _kicked_. They fell off of him as he jumped back to his feet, grabbing the camera back away from them in one fluid motion.

He was going to leave, Ryoutarou realized suddenly – and he hadn't even asked him anything yet, just sat there stupidly as the Imagin threatened him. He braced himself and shoved his way back into control, scrambling back up even as the camera was aimed at him…

"Oh good," said the guy. "You're _you_ again. That makes this easier."

"Wait," Ryoutarou said hurriedly, holding his hands up. "Wait, I've got to talk to you! Can you just tell me what's going on –"

"Let me think about it," he murmered. Then, without pausing, he continued, "No. Ready?"

The camera flashed, and when the spots finally faded from Ryoutarou's eyes, the man was gone again.

_What was _that_ about?_ Momo muttered. Ryoutarou shook his head slowly, still staring at where he'd been.

_Who cares?_ Ryuu demanded. _I want my omelette! We beat the stupid crazy stalker; let's go back and have breakfast!_

Ryoutarou wondered if he should tell them about the dream. Even if he'd thought it might not've been real…well, that had just been living proof! But Ryuu was still whining about breakfast, and the others didn't seem in any mood to listen, so he just got back on his bike and pedaled off again.

He should tell Yuuko, he decided. She seemed like she'd be intelligent about it, and now that the Imagin had witnessed the weird dude, she couldn't just discount it as a dream.

He got lost twice – first from Momo's muddled directions, then from Ura sending him down the wrong streets because she thought it'd be funny – so they didn't get their omelette until an hour later, when Ryoutarou had finally managed to find his way back to Yuuko's with the groceries.

"They're not as good as Deneb's," she admitted, as she handed him his plate. "He's been teaching me, but I'm still not up to his level. You want some juice with that?"

Ryoutarou nodded absently, staring at his omelette as though it held all the mysteries to life. Something had been bothering him ever since they'd gotten back, but he hadn't realized what it was until just now.

"Um," he said, "where _is_ Deneb?"

The Imagin wasn't in the apartment – it was small enough for him to tell that at a glance – and he didn't remember seeing him since last night. Yuuko looked surprised at the question, and shrugged.

"He sleeps in the storage room," she said. "He insists on it, since this is barely big enough for two people anyway, and…" She _blushed_, which was sort of a horrific sight on what he still thought of as Yuuto's face. "…a girl needs her privacy, you know?"

Ryoutarou did not, nor did he ever really want to. He busied himself with the omelette – it was pretty good, but Airi's omelettes were better – and ignoring Ryuu's demands to be let out so she could have a taste, too.

_I'm the one who bought the stuff!_ she wailed. _It's not fair!_

_Life isn't fair, dumbass,_ Momo said snidely – followed by the unmistakable noise of crayons being used as deadly projectiles. (There were many noises Ryoutarou had never really heard before the Imagins, most of them traumatizing.)

He kept eating, still mulling over what to tell Yuuko. 'Oh hey, I just ran into this creepy stalker that I coincidentally had a dream about last night' didn't seem to really convey the situation, somehow. Maybe if he led into it subtly…

Yuuko sat down across from him, arms crossed. Ryoutarou looked up, saw her face, and cringed back out of reflex.

"Okay," she said firmly, "what happened? Don't bother denying it," she added, as Ryoutarou opened his mouth, "I _know_ Ryoko. I can _tell_ you're hiding something."

_Don't tell her about the stalker,_ Ura hissed. _It's just going to piss her off._

_Besides,_ Momo said, _we took care of him. He won't be bothering _us_ anymore, not if he wants his head to stay intact._

Ryoutarou ignored them. Instead he put his fork down and sighed, trying to think of where, exactly, he should start.

"Well," he said finally. "Um. This is going to sound really crazy, but last night, I had this dream…"


	9. Chapter 8

Yuuto was staring at her like she was insane.

"You're telling me you had a _dream_," he said slowly, "where you met Ryoutarou –"

"—and that weird guy with the camera," Ryoko mumbled, fidgeting desperately. Maybe it'd been a bad idea to tell him after all. Maybe she'd still been clinging to that stupid hope that he was like her Yuuko, that he'd _listen_…

Yuuto sighed, and Ryoko looked back up at him. He was still looking at her like she was nuts, but it seemed to be in a more resigned way, somehow.

"Things just get _really weird_ around you, don't they?" he sighed. "Okay, well, this is at least a _lead_, sort of. Would you recognize this guy if you saw him again?"

Ryoko nodded in relief. She was certain she could – she'd only seen him for a moment, but she felt sure she'd never forget _that_ face. Of course, this was assuming they could find him outside of whatever little dreamworld she and Ryoutarou had been in…

"Do you think he's on our side?" she asked, looking back up. Yuuto frowned and shrugged.

"I don't know what to tell you," he said after a moment. "But I don't think you should go to sleep again until we get a better idea of who the _hell_ this guy is."

"Should we ask Owner?"

"Sure, if you want him to feed you some more meaningless cryptic _shit_," Yuuto muttered. Ryoko wilted slightly. "I think we should try to find this Time Station. If we can find the station master, maybe he'd be, you know, not so _fucking vague_ about every _stupid_ little –"

"Ahem," said Owner, from directly behind him. To his credit, Yuuto didn't scream or jump; instead his face just _froze_, even as Ryoko felt herself go pale.

Owner just looked at them both for a moment; Ryoko was almost afraid that he might get angry, but instead he just said, in the same monotone as always, "I will thank you to refrain from inflammatory comments while the subject is in the same room."

"It's not my fault you're always –" Yuuto started, but even he seemed to realize that this wasn't the time, and he shut up before he could go any further.

It didn't seem to matter, though, because Owner wasn't looking at him anymore. Instead he was staring at Ryoko again, with that same intense gaze that made her feel like he could see right into her soul, and he didn't approve of what he saw. She cringed back instinctively.

"Do you wish to go to the Time Station?" he said. Ryoko stared at him in surprise – but she'd never known Owner to joke, or even appear to have any semblance of a sense of humor whatsoever…

"Yes, please," she whispered. Owner nodded, as though this settled everything, and turned away again.

"Wait, that's _it_?" Yuuto said incredulously. Owner ignored him. "You're just going to _take us_, because she _asked nicely_?! Then what was all that _we don't concern ourselves with blah blah blah_?"

"Um," Ryoko hissed, wondering if there was a way to say 'shut up and don't provoke him' that wouldn't make Yuuto hate her even more, but it was too late. Owner looked back at them over his shoulder, and the expression on his face was one of long-suffering.

"You are correct," he said, "in that Den-Liner does not concern itself with issues outside of the timestream. _However_."

They waited. Owner's hands shifted on the top of his cane.

"Miss Nougami is a passenger," he continued, finally. "And the Den-Liner will always deliver its passengers to wherever they need to go."

"But that makes _no sense_ –" Yuuto started, before once again being glared into submission.

"If you choose to disembark at the Station," Owner told Ryoko, "then you will no longer be under Den-Liner's jurisdiction, is that clear?" Without even waiting for an answer, he continued, "Now, I believe I have explained this more than enough. Naomi, the fried rice –"

Ryoko watched mutely as he stalked back to his corner, her mind reeling. So he'd take them to the Station, but he couldn't – or wouldn't – do anything after that, was that what he'd meant? Or was Owner just being strange and contradictory at random? Either seemed equally likely.

"Well," Yuuto muttered, "at least we're getting _somewhere_." He glanced at her, then looked away again and said, very awkwardly, "…Don't worry about it, okay? I'm – I mean, we're all – gonna help you get back to your own world."

Ryoko stared at him. He looked – almost _shy_, which was so completely absurd that she could _feel_ her worldview shattering into little tiny pieces even as he turned faintly pink. She should probably thank him, or say that it was sweet and she appreciated it, or _something_, but she just couldn't get over the fact that Yuuto had said something _kind_ to her –

"Incidentally," Owner called out, from the other side of the car, "Sakurai Yuuto is _not_ a passenger of Den-Liner, and therefore is not extended the same courtesy. Naomi, where is my spoon…"

"Coming!" Naomi chirped, and it was possibly only the fact that she skipped between them at that moment that kept Yuuto from leaping over and attempting to strangle Owner with his fried rice. Ryoko moved hurriedly in front of him, gibbering in a vague, helpless attempt to keep him from going totally homicidal.

Finally he calmed down, or at least down to the point where he was only sending dark glances towards Owner and muttering things like "couldn't have told us that _before_, stupid smarmy…" under his breath. Ryoko decided to count it as a success and move on.

"I'll follow you in ZeroLiner," he told her finally, and then he left – _how_ exactly he managed to keep getting on and off the train, even when it was moving, was a mystery that Ryoko had resigned herself to never knowing the answer to. Yuuko had always just changed the subject whenever it came up…

The ride to the Station was long and surprisingly uneventful – Ryoko found herself getting _bored_, although that was partially from sheer impatience. She had to resist the urge to keep asking, "Are we there yet?"

(Ryuu, of course, had no such restraint, and annoyed them all by whining, "How about now? How about _now_?", until even Kin became so frustrated that he threatened to take away his crayons if he didn't _shut up_.)

Eventually she was drawn into watching the Imagin play poker – or, more accurately, watching Momo flail as Ura openly cheated and Ryuu kept trying to play it to the rules of Go Fish; Kin had fallen asleep over his cards about two minutes in – but then, about half an hour later, Hana suddenly said, "There it is!"

The Imagin immediately dropped their cards and fell all over themselves trying to get to the window. Ryoko went over to look, and succeeded purely by virtue of not getting pulled into the fight to get to a good view.

It was – well, it was a train station, looking horribly out-of-place in the giant rainbow-strewn desert of time, the tracks building themselves up to the entrance. Ryoko wondered why she was surprised; somehow, she'd expected something a little more…fantastical, maybe.

On the other hand, this was probably a good thing. She really wasn't sure how much more her poor nerves could take.

"I wonder why we've never seen it before," Hana murmured, face pressed against the glass. Ryoko shrugged, glancing back towards the Imagin – and then jumped, as she got a faceful of Owner, who had apparently just _materialized right behind her_.

"There are," he said gravely, as though he hadn't just been on the other side of the car a second ago, "certain _conditions_ that must be met, before the Time Station will appear."

"Oh?" Hana said, looking interested, but Owner just stared pointedly at her until she gave up and turned away again. Ryoko gibbered something about teleportation.

ZeroLiner had been pulling about even with them the whole way, but she lost track of it as they pulled in; when the doors finally slid open, Yuuto was standing there, arms crossed and looking impatient. Deneb was behind him, clutching a lollipop as though it were the only thing he were sure of in the world.

"Well, let's –" Yuuto started, before being unceremoniously interrupted by three Imagin jumping off the train at once. It was only because Deneb pulled him out of the way at the last second that he avoided being squashed at all.

_Huh,_ Ryoko thought, _that's funny, where's –_

"Wait for me!" Momo shrieked, taking a flying leap onto the platform, and that solved _that_ question. This time Yuuto _did_ get knocked over, he and Momo and Deneb landing in a twisted jumble on the platform edge, and Ryoko winced at the resulting screaming match that followed.

"_Who said you were coming_?!" Yuuto yelled, turning almost as red as Momo. Deneb gibbered ineffectually, and Momo started to shout something back, but he was interrupted by Ura – he wasn't even raising his voice, but somehow, he managed to make himself heard above them regardless.

"Of course we're coming," he said, as though it were obvious. He extended a hand towards Ryoko, still huddled in a trembling heap on the DenLiner's step; Ryoko eyeballed it wildly, half-afraid that it would attack. "As if we would pass up this opportunity to explore this great unknown."

"Great unknown, my _ass_," Momo muttered. "He said there'd be a free buffet."

"Oh, senpai, you _do_ know the important things in life," Ura sighed. Ryoko by this point had hauled herself up and stumbled down onto the platform, pointedly ignoring his still-outstretched hand.

For all that they said they'd help, the Imagin didn't seem to be taking this too seriously. They meandered ahead, arguing amongst themselves about some random and trivial thing, while Ryoko, Yuuto and Hana went on at a slower pace.

"I still don't think they should've come," Yuuto muttered, glaring darkly at the Imagin. Momo was still complaining about not seeing the free buffet anywhere; the others were laughing at him, save for Deneb, who was cheerfully waving back at them and going, "Look at that, Yuuto! Ooh! Look at _that_!"

"I still can't believe that Owner never told me about any of this," said Hana. She had the same look on her face as Yuuto – _there it was again_ – only her scowl was directed around at the station, as though it had betrayed her simply by existing. "I would've thought something like _this_… What _else_ hasn't he told me?"

Ryoko, for her part, was trying her best to ignore them all. The station was enough of a shock to her already – she'd adjusted her viewpoint based on its outer resemblance to a regular train station, but that had been a mistake. It…well, it _did_ look like a regular train station, but it was bigger – much bigger, in fact, than it had looked from the outside – and the listings and announcements were in languages she'd never even heard before. Some of them didn't even sound like _language_…

And she certainly hadn't expected there to be _people_.

She knew, of course, that there were other people who travelled through time – of _course_ there were, otherwise who would've built the DenLiner? There must be other passengers than just her and Hana and the Imagin – but still…

It was crowded and rushed, people racing back and forth as though they were in a hurry to catch their trains (but _what_ trains? Were there trains other than the DenLiner and ZeroLiner?), and no one even spared them a second glance. Not even the Imagin – which was probably the least strange part of it all, even though everyone else _looked_ human…

"We need to find Station Master," Hana was saying, breaking her out of her thoughts, "so we should ask someone, maybe, or look for a sign –"

Ryoko had turned to look at her, and wasn't watching where she was going; she didn't see the man until she'd already bumped into him, falling backwards with a surprised squeak.

He grabbed her as she fell, balancing her back upright again, and his hand brushed her waist and went down towards her hip –

– and then he let go again suddenly, even as Hana shrieked, "_Pervert_!" and lunged towards him. Ryoko stood stock-still, staring after him as he dodged Hana's fists and ran off, melting back into the crowd.

"What? What happened?!" Momo demanded, whirling back around. "Can I kill somebody?! Please say I can kill somebody!"

"Somebody impugned Ryoko-chan's honor?" Ura gasped, apparently quicker on the uptake than Momo was. "_Before me_?! Obviously we must avenge her – quick, Ryoko-chan, show me _exactly_ where he touched you –"

"This means I can kill somebody, right?" Momo said hopefully. Ura started to reply, but just then, Ryoko's voice unfroze from her throat.

"That was _him_," she squeaked – and then she tried again, in a less embarrassing tone of voice. "_That was the guy from my dream_!"

Everyone stared at her. The rest of the crowd surged impatiently around them, seemingly oblivious to the drama that was unfolding.

"Wait, what dream?" Momo said in confusion, at the exact same moment that Yuuto launched himself off in the direction that the guy had gone. "Hey! _I_ was going to kill him!"

Ryoko was dimly aware of Hana asking her if she was okay; she managed to nod, still staring dumbly off into the crowd. She could see Yuuto fighting his way against the influx of people going in the opposite direction, and she knew that the guy was long gone by now…

…it _had_ been him. She was sure of it. His clothes had been different, and she'd only glanced at him, but that _look_ on his face…that sneer had been burned into her memory ever since she'd last seen it, when he directed it at her and Ryoutarou.

And even if the expression hadn't been enough, she'd nearly been hit in the face with his stupid pink camera. That _was_ him.

It couldn't have been coincidence, she mused, being buffeted along with Hana and the Imagin as they chased after Yuuto. That _that_ man would just _happen_ to bump into her, _here_ of all places – no, he'd obviously done it intentionally, and somehow, she doubted it was because he'd become overcome with lust for her. He hadn't even really _touched_ her; in fact, it had felt more like he'd been aiming for…

There was a weight in her pocket.

It was light and flat, whatever it was, which was probably the only reason it hadn't been noticed before – Ryoko moved her hand to her pocket, but just then someone reached out from the crowd around them and grabbed her arm.

"What –" she started in surprise, before she was bodily pulled into the sea of people.

She could hear Hana shouting her name, and then the Imagin joining in – but whoever was pulling her was pulling her _hard_, and after only a few seconds she couldn't even see them anymore. She looked up to see who'd grabbed her –

There was no one in sight. The grip on her arm had faded the second she'd looked up; there was only the vague impression of someone's retreating back before she'd lost track of them entirely. She didn't _think_ it was her dream-man, but who could really say…?

Unfortunately, the lack of a guide left her at the crowd's mercy, and Ryoko realized with a sinking heart that not only was she hopelessly lost (which way had she been dragged? For that matter, which platform was DenLiner even parked at?) but if she didn't get out of this crowd soon –

Someone stepped on her foot, and at the same time she was jostled from behind, and then hit hard in the elbow by somebody's bag. She tried to excuse herself, but nobody even seemed to see her; if they did look at her, all they did was glare, and then get right back to pushing their way through.

She lost track of where she was heading – not that she'd had much idea, anyway, but under the onset of pushing and shoving and elbowing, her aim became less 'get out of the crowd' and more simply 'don't get trampled'. So she was surprised when, after a particularly nasty shove that sent her flying, she landed face-first on the floor…_out_ of the crush in the center of the hallway.

Ryoko sat up warily, making a quick check of herself – okay, it didn't seem like she had any broken bones, and even thought she was sore and bruised and she'd torn Hana's shirt, she seemed to be otherwise okay.

Well, that and her toenail polish had cracked, but that was the least of her worries right now.

It took her a moment before she became aware of the boy in front of her. He was just sitting there, back against the wall, watching her; he looked sort of bored at first, but he grinned at her as she looked up.

"That was nasty," he said, which was such a weird way to put it that Ryoko had to think for a minute before she realized he probably meant whoever'd given her that last shove. She shrugged and pulled herself to her feet.

"I'm okay," she said, even though he hadn't asked. He didn't say anything else, though; he just kept looking at her as she brushed herself off. There was a deck of cards in his hands – not playing cards, she thought, but he was absently shuffling through them as he stared at her, and she couldn't get a good enough look at them. And frankly, she just didn't _care_ – she just wanted to find Station Master and figure out what was going on. She didn't want to get back in that crowd, but she'd have to, if she wanted to…

…or maybe not. She didn't really know why she said it, or what made her think he'd know – maybe it was just desperate, irrational hope – but she said hesitantly, "Um…would you happen to know where to find the station master…?"

"Oh, sure," he said pleasantly, and pointed in approximately the direction she'd been dragged in earlier. _That_ threw her for a loop; she hadn't really expected him to know, much less give her directions. "Just down that hall, last door on the left. It's got a sign in the front, you can't miss it."

Ryoko thanked him, still somewhat bemused, and headed off in the direction he'd indicated. She could _feel_ him staring at her the whole way down, a creepy tingling sensation that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, and she couldn't turn the corner fast enough.

That turned out to be a mistake. For the millionth time that day, she walked directly into someone else – although thankfully this time she didn't get groped in the process.

"Excuse me," she gibbered, trying to slide around them, but they grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back – she looked up in panic, her body freezing in fear…and then nearly melted from the sudden wave of relief.

"_Here_ you are," Yuuto said in exasperation. Hana rushed over and nearly knocked them over; the next thing Ryoko knew, she _was_ knocked over, under the weight of four over-excited Imagin. She made a tiny squeaking noise as she went down, like some kind of demented dog toy, and Yuuto was dragged along with her – they seemed to be ending up in this position a lot lately, for some reason…

There was a lot of shouting and pushing, and for a moment Ryoko wondered why she'd bothered leaving the crowd in the first place – and then a voice said, very firmly, "That is enough of _that_."

And just like that, it was over. Everyone quieted down, and the Imagin dispersed; Ryoko found herself huddled on the floor, staring at up a man in a shiny white uniform. He had to be Station Master, he could _only_ be Station Master, but he –

"I assure you," he said, in disturbingly dulcet tones, "any resemblance I may have to…other acquaintances of yours…is purely your own imagination. Would you care for some tea?"

_I've gone insane,_ Ryoko realized, _finally, totally insane._ And yet all she could manage to say was a small, pathetic, "Yes please."

They all got tea, even the Imagin, who looked bewildered by this strange non-coffee beverage. Ryoko ignored the tea (and the flamboyant way Station Master was stirring in sugar) and instead got straight to the point.

"Um, if you don't mind," she said. Okay, so it wasn't really _straight_ to the point, but… "Could you please tell me –"

"Oh, honey," Station Master sighed. "I already told you, don't panic. That's all you need to know."

"For the love of –" Yuuto muttered, at the same time that Hana said, "You've _got_ to be kidding me –", but Station Master ignored them both. Instead he just stared straight at Ryoko – good god, he even _stared_ the same way as Owner, right into the depths of her soul and beyond. She cringed back instinctively.

"Oh," she said, disappointed. She'd hoped now that she was _here_, maybe he would've told her more – or at least given her a _clue_ – or _something_. "…Oh. It's just, I had this dream –"

Station Master set his spoon down. Somehow, this gesture seemed so emphatic that Ryoko trailed off, wondering if she should've mentioned it at all.

"Now, don't you worry about _that_," he said, not entirely unkindly. "I'll be sure to have a good long talk with that boy later about that _attitude_ of his – not to mention what _else_ he's been getting up to, letting himself get caught like that." He frowned in an exaggerated, pouty sort of way, and Ryoko was far too traumatized to ask about what the heck that had meant.

Yuuto didn't seem to have the same problem, though, because he immediately broke in with, "How did you know about that? Does that mean that he's working for you? Does that –"

"Oh _goodness_, look at the time," Station Master declared. He made no move to actually look at the clock on the wall behind them. "The DenLiner is scheduled to depart in five minutes; you'd best get going if you want to catch it –"

"_What_," Momo shrieked. "You poncy bastard! Are you kicking us out?!"

"You haven't even told us anything!" Hana said in disbelief. Station Master turned and just _looked_ at them, and they both fell silent.

"There's nothing more I _can_ tell you," he said. "I'm sure you know by now that it's being taken care of. There's no reason to confuse you with all the gritty little details. Now, DenLiner is going to be leaving momentarily…"

"I'll stay here," Yuuto told Ryoko in a low voice. "I'll try to find out something about what's going on, whatever this guy isn't telling us."

Ryoko glanced back up at Station Master, who either hadn't heard or didn't seem to care; apparently since it didn't involve Yuuto, it didn't matter what he did. She felt like yelling at him – what _was_ it with these people and being cryptic? Why couldn't they ever just _say_, "Yes, he is working for us, and here's an estimate as to how long until you can go home"? Maybe they could stay anyway; Owner had already made it clear that he wouldn't interfere, and it would be totally unlike him anyway to come looking for them if they missed the train. Maybe…

"Toodle-ooh," Station Master cooed, and he wiggled his fingers at them in a depraved mockery of a wave. Ryoko realized that no, she really did not want to spend another _second_ around this man, not if she could help it.

"Just be careful," she said to Yuuto, although she wasn't sure why. Yuuto was smart and good at intimidating people; she doubted he'd be able to glare Station Master into submission, but maybe he'd get some kind of lead anyway. He just nodded at her, and went with them back towards the platform.

The boy who'd given her directions was gone, she noticed, as their strange little group trudged aback round the corner. Oh, well, he'd probably gone and caught _his_ train, or whatever he was waiting for…

Yuuto had been walking up near the front, but he fell back a little now. Hana and Momo (both in bad moods now) were busy sniping at each other, and the other Imagin were egging them on, so nobody paid attention as they trailed behind.

"_That_ was a colossal waste of time," Yuuto said, after a moment of awkward silence. Ryoko shrugged – somehow, it seemed like all she'd _done_ in this world was to waste time. It seemed ironic, somehow…

"Why the hell did they send you here, if they weren't going to tell you anything?" he was continuing, glaring around at the world in general. "Seriously, what was the _point_? All we got was the reassurance that this station is run by a _fucking lunatic_. And, oh yeah, you got groped by some temporally-displaced pervert. And that was some really shitty tea –"

"_Oh_!" Ryoko gasped. Yuuto gave her a weird look, but she ignored him, instead digging into her pocket – somehow, she'd completely forgotten about it, but whatever the guy had slipped her was still there. It was smooth and glossy, the light reflecting off of it as she held it up –

"Oh," she said again, although it came out as more of a whisper this time. "Oh my _god_ –"


	10. Chapter 9

Ryoutaru hadn't been sure what to expect from Yuuko – maybe she'd scream at him, or think he was joking, or just outright laugh in his face. But he hadn't expected, well…_this_.

He hadn't expected her to say nothing as he spoke, tripping over his words in the sudden silence, starting to feel desperate from the way her expression had gone totally blank. Nor had he expected her, once he'd finished, to simply say, "Huh."

And he _really_ hadn't expected her to then take his plate, still with the half-eaten omelette on it, and tell them to go watch some TV.

_I don't get it,_ he said in confusion, floating aimlessly in the back of his own head. Ryuu had immediately taken over again, and was bouncing them happily along to the Gekiranger theme song.

_She's thinking about it,_ Ura said, and he got the impression of a shrug from her. _But the real question is –_

_Why the _fuck_ didn't you tell _us_ about it?!_ Momo snarled. Ryoutarou forgot he didn't have a body at the moment and tried to cringe.

_That is,_ he started. _Um. I mean. The thing is –_

"Like we would have believed you anyway!" Ryuu said cheerfully. "Now shut up, I've been waiting _all week_ to find out what happened with the blue ranger's long-lost brother!"

_He's secretly a werewolf,_ Ura said sarcastically. Ryuu wailed and she quickly added, _Oh, _shut it_, I was just making it up –_

_IS SOMEBODY CRYING??_ Kin demanded, and Ryoutarou gave up. He settled down in the ether, watching the show (and it would never _not_ be weird, seeing things through his eyes but _not_) and wondering what Yuuko was thinking. Did she believe him? Did she think he was totally nuts? He wouldn't blame her if he did. _He'd_ think he was totally nuts, too.

If this were Yuuto, _he'd_ never believe him. Poor Ryoko must be having such a hard time – at least Yuuko was _friendly_, and seemed willing to help (even if she was sort of insane when it came to fighting). Oh god, he didn't even want to _think_ about Yuuto's reaction to seeing him as a girl…

Yuuko waited for the commercial break – apparently she knew Ryuu better than Ryoutarou had thought – before she came over and sat next to them. She no longer looked blank; now she looked thoughtful, and sort of amused.

"Well," she said, as Ryuu ogled the plastic toys being shamelessly advertised onscreen. "I have to say, it sounds pretty crazy."

Ryoutarou's heart sank. _No,_ he wanted to say, _what would sound _really_ crazy is if I said, "Hey, I talk about people who don't exist, but that's because they were erased from the timestream by evil memory-eating demons that I hunt down because I'm a superhero who flies around on a magical time-travelling train from the fourth dimension, and I know all this because the voices in my head told me so"_ – but he restrained himself.

It was a good thing, too, because then Yuuko grinned and said, "So, how do we find this guy again?"

"I can't hear you," Ryuu said placidly, "it's back on. Geki!"

Ryoutarou was forced to wait through the rest of the episode, along with a running commentary from the Imagin (although Ura fell oddly silent about halfway through, for some reason). Yuuko went off to get the mail in the meantime – "Deneb subscribed me to all the supermarket coupon-mailers within three miles," she explained – and she sat by them, shuffling through the stack as the ending theme finished and Ryuu _finally_ slipped away again. Ryoutarou sighed in relief and turned back to Yuuko.

"So," he said, "about this guy –"

Yuuko had a very strange look on her face. Ryoutarou broke off, hoping he hadn't accidentally offended her – and then she held up a manila envelope that had been in her stack of mail, and Ryoutarou just _stared_.

There was no address on the envelope; instead, written across the front, was "To: Stupid-Looking Kid, c/o Insane Assault-Happy Split Personalities". There was a smiley-face underneath it, drawn in hot-pink ink.

_Well,_ Ura said, after a moment. _It seems we didn't quite scare him off after all._

"I think it must've just been dropped in the box," Yuuko said slowly, handing him the envelope. Ryoutarou stared at it stupidly. "Okay, I admit it – I wasn't really that worried before, I mean, you said the Imagin scared him off…but he knew you were here. He knew my _box number_."

_Now_ the look on her face was troubled. Her hands were slowly clenching and unclenching, a habit that Ryoutaru had noticed in Yuuto (and even, he remembered distantly, Sakurai-san) as something he did when he was unsettled.

"Maybe it's not from him?" he said weakly. (_Yeah right,_ Momo grumbled, around Ryuu obliviously singing the Gekiranger theme song again.) "I mean, maybe there's…some _other_ stupid-looking kid with split personalities who lives in this building."

Yuuko just looked at him. Ryoutarou hung his head in shame for having even made the suggestion.

_Face it, you're the stupidest-looking kid for miles,_ Momo snapped. _Open the damn envelope!_

_That might not be the best idea,_ Ura said, as Ryoutarou eyed the envelope as though it were about to leap up and bite his face off. Given his luck, he wouldn't be surprised if it did just that. _We don't know who he is, and somehow, I doubt he's filled it with sparkles and sunshine and free kittens. _

"Maybe I should open it," Yuuko offered, apparently thinking along the same lines. "It might be dangerous. Or we could make Deneb do it." (Once again, Ryoutarou was struck by how similar she and Yuuto really were.) "Or we could take it to DenLiner, any trap he might've set in there might not work on the train –"

Ryoutarou was already opening the envelope. He didn't quite know why, but even though he _knew_ there was no proof that this guy was on their side, that chances were very likely that this was some kind of deadly, horrible trap that would kill or maim or horribly violate him…somehow, he couldn't stop himself. It was like he also knew, deep down, that this was something very important, that he _needed_ to do…

"Ryoutarou," Yuuko said in surprise, having seen what he was doing, but it was too late. He reached in and pulled out –

_Holy _shit_!_ Momo shrieked. Ryoutarou's hand trembled slightly; the 6x8 glossy in his fingers caught the light and threw it back at him, looking oddly sinister. _That's –_

There was a short, baffled pause.

_That's a really bad photograph, that's what it is,_ she said finally. _Look, you can't even tell what it's _of_. Why the hell is he sending you weird photos?_

_Maybe he really is a psychotic stalker,_ Ura suggested, and Momo said something extremely rude that made Ryuu gasp and break out into giggles.

Ryoutarou wasn't listening. The Imagin may not have recognized the picture, but he did – the face was fuzzy, blurred and overexposed, but he knew those clothes, and he knew where he'd last seen them.

"Ryoko," he whispered. The Imagin fell suddenly silent.

How could they not have seen it? It was undeniably her, even through the general horribleness of the photography; in fact, he thought he could almost make out her features through the blurriness, if he focused hard enough. The light was catching on the glossy paper, which didn't help, and he tilted it back and forth, trying to see through it…

"Ryoko?"

He hadn't said it, but it didn't sound like Yuuko, and it hadn't come from the Imagin. Maybe he was imagining things –

"Ryoko! Hey, Ryoko –"

"_Nougami_!"

Ryoutarou looked up in surprise, and nearly fell over. The world was – _strange_, twisted and blurring around him. His focus snapped onto the one thing that wasn't morphing – Yuuko's face, staring down at him in concern. Had he fallen over…?

Wait a minute.

The hair was different – Yuuko's had slightly more of a curl to it, and it fell differently around her face. And there was something not right in the set of the eyebrows –

"_Yuuto_?" Ryoutarou said in disbelief. Yuuto frowned and folded his arms, his glare intensifying.

"What _happened_?" the first voice said, and much to his shock, Ryoutarou realized it was _Hana_. He tried to turn to look at her, but his body wouldn't move. That was weird; it didn't feel like he was possessed –

_Yuuko?_ a familiar voice said faintly, and something _shifted_, and suddenly it was Yuuko in front of him, not Yuuto. The world was still moving like an insane carnival mirror, and Ryoutarou suddenly realized what it was. Just like in the dream, the two worlds were overlapping – only Ryoko wasn't in the same place as he was this time, which must be why it looked so strange. There, now that he was looking, he could sort of separate the two, although it was giving him a headache to try…

Yuuko was calling his name, sounding worried; at the same time, Yuuto was saying, "I don't know, she just pulled out that picture and now she's calling me Yuuko –"

_What's going on?_ Ryoko said, sounding panicked. Ryoutarou felt a bit like panicking himself. _Am I back…?_

Her voice was distant and echoey, resounding in the back of his head like the Imagin's did. He looked around for her – okay, that was a mistake; the way the double-layered world reeled made him feel even sicker. It was a good thing he was already sitting down.

Yuuko had grabbed his shoulders and was calling his name, getting increasingly louder, but he couldn't make himself focus on her voice. Instead he looked for Ryoko; for some reason, it seemed vitally important that he find her, make sure she was okay –

She was nowhere to be seen. Instead, when he focused on her world – or his world, really – all he saw was Yuuto and Hana staring at him and the Imagin crowding around, all of them demanding to know what was happening. If they could see him, did that mean that Yuuko could see Ryoko, like some weird exchange or something? And wait, why were the Imagin manifesting physically? This didn't _look_ like Den-Liner…

_Ryoutarou?_ Ryoko whispered. Her voice didn't seem to be coming from anywhere but in his own head, and in a moment of inspiration, he looked down.

Ah. That explained it.

_Don't do that,_ Ryoko said, sounding pained. ("Don't do _what_?" Yuuto demanded, but she seemed to be in the same sort of daze that Ryoutarou was in, and just ignored him.) _You're right on top of me – or I'm on top of you – you're going to give me motion sickness…_

"Sorry," he said automatically, starting to shake his head before he thought better of it. "Did you get one, too?"

It occurred to him even as he said it that he probably could not get even _more_ vague, but she seemed to know what he meant anyway, and nodded. (Okay, she was right – he was seeing his world through her eyes, and it was extremely disconcerting to have a shimmery, not-quite-there overlay suddenly bob up and down.)

He glanced down at the photo in his hand; she did too, their pictures in the same hand and angled in the same way so that they seemed to line up over each other. Hers was of him, which didn't surprise him – it must've been the picture the guy had taken after Kin had jumped him, judging from the background. It was just as awful as his picture; the scene looked fractured, and there was an overexposed smear that almost looked like –

Ryoko shifted her picture slightly, and Ryoutarou's heart nearly stopped.

It was vaguely humanoid, with long pointed ears and a snout-like face – he couldn't make out any real details, the picture really was awful, but there it was. With the pictures lined up, it was standing right there between him and Ryoko, one claw-like hand on the top of their heads.

He dropped his own picture in surprise, and the image vanished – so did the strange over-world effect, leaving him sitting there stupidly in Yuuko's apartment as she yelled in his face. The Imagin were yelling, too (how had he not heard them before?), telling him to snap out of it, to come back to the train, and (at Momo's suggestion) to do something obscene with a goat.

"I'm okay," he mumbled, and then, when Yuuko didn't stop, "I'm okay! I just –"

_What the fuck was that?!_ Momo shrieked. _You went all weird and shut us out –_

"Were you talking to the Imagin?" Yuuko demanded. She still hadn't let go of him, and her fingernails were digging into his shoulders; Ryoutarou shook his head, trying to wiggle out of her grip. It didn't work.

"It was Ryoko," he said, and _that_ got her to let go. She sat back and stared at him, and he continued in a rush, "The photo _did_ something – I don't know, it kind of…merged us, or something – but that's not the point, the point is what _else_ was in the picture –"

He picked it up again, half-expecting it to happen again, but this time there were no special effects. Yuuko stared at him in bewilderment.

"You saw Ryoko?" she said finally. "What, like – in your dream? Is she okay? Did it hurt either of you? Why did –"

"It was an Imagin," Ryoutarou interrupted. He couldn't stop himself; it felt like if he didn't get this all out, he was just going to _explode_. "I think it was an Imagin, anyway –"

_What, that kicked us out and made you go stupid?_ Momo asked. Ryoutarou had to stop himself from shaking his head – then he remembered that Ryoko wasn't connected anymore, and he did it vehemently.

"No, that caused this in the first place," he said. "Or at least, it has something to do with it." He looked down at the photo in his hands, trying to find any trace of the creature – it had been _right there_, clear as anything, but there was nothing but a bunch of overly-saturated colors. "He must've been trying to tell us that was what it was…"

A sudden chill ran down his spine. Oh god, _what if it was still here_? What if it still had its hand on his head, and he just couldn't see it or feel because – he didn't know, maybe it could only be seen with a special camera or something, or…

"It's in both places at once," he realized. "Or it's inbetween, or something, and that's why we haven't been able to figure out what's going on, because we can't find it if it's not completely in one world –"

"_What are you talking about_?" Yuuko shouted in frustration, only to be cut off as the door slammed open and Deneb ran in, tripped over the coffee table, and fell right on top of Ryoutarou.

"Yuuko! I heard yelling! Is everyone all right?" he gasped. Ryoutarou supposed he should have expected something like this; for a minute there, things had almost made sense.

* * *

"I don't get it at all," Momo complained, glaring at the photo as though he expected it to leap up and attack him. Ryoko held it up and peered at it.

"It was right there," she murmured, tracing the area where the creature had been. "And its hand was right on my head…"

Everyone stared at her head in horror. Ryoko didn't really notice; she was still just staring at the photo, trying to figure out what this all meant. It was probably an Imagin, but how were they supposed to find it? Obviously Momo hadn't sensed it, probably because it was sort of…in both dimensions at once, or something else strange like that. How did you find something that wasn't even totally there…?

They were back on DenLiner now, the station shrinking off into the distance behind them. Yuuto had stayed at the station with Deneb, and Ryoko was glad for it; Hana and the Imagin were being surly enough already after the wasted trip, and she had no illusions about what would happen if you added a irritable Yuuto into the mix. There would be _explosions_.

"I'm sorry," Hana said, sitting down next to her. She sounded it, too, and she was frowning as Ryoko looked up. "I'm really sorry, I thought for sure we'd find something at the station –"

"It's not your fault," Ryoko said quickly, slightly traumatized. Hana shook her head.

"I just…I wish I could help," she sighed. "I hate not being able to do anything – it feels like that's all I've ever done, is _nothing_. It's just so _frustrating_…"

Ryoko had the horrifying thought that Hana might cry. "It's all right," she interrupted, as Hana looked like she was about to go off on a long monologue, "really, you've been helping me so much already. If it weren't for you, I would've – um…well, I'd've been…I just don't know what would have happened!"

It was true, at any rate, and Hana looked appeased. Ryoko sighed in relief.

There was silence in the car after that; a long, unhappy one, broken only by the occasional noises of Owner chewing on rice. (Well, and Ryuu humming, but that was practically white noise at this point.) After a few minutes or so of this, though, Hana seemed to get impatient.

"Are you sure you want to go back to Milk Dipper?" she asked. "I mean, you can stay on the train if you want…"

"No," Ryoko said quietly. "No, I think I need to be somewhere…more familiar right now. Thank you, but…"

She trailed off, not really sure how to say it. That she _needed_ to be there right now, even if her brother wasn't there, even if – what was her name? Airi? – was there in his place…it was still Milk Dipper. It was still _home_.

It wasn't _her_ home, but it was as close as she was going to get right now.

The train came to a stop right in front of Milk Dipper – there was one convenience to magical time-travelling flying trains; you never had to walk more than a few feet – and, on some strange impulse, Ryoko gave Hana a hug as she was standing up to leave.

"Thanks," she whispered. At least she'd _tried_ to help, she'd _wanted_ to; that counted for something, didn't it?

She hugged Momo, too, for the same reason. Kin was asleep but she hugged him anyway, and then Ryuu, although he squirmed and giggled the whole time, and Ura…well, Ura leered and held his arms out, and Ryoko gave him a nice firm handshake.

She sort of wished Yuuto were still here, but then…somehow, she got the feeling he wouldn't appreciate a hug _or_ a handshake. She missed Yuuko so much…

Milk Dipper's familiar door was comforting, though, soothing her subconscious even though her brain knew that it wasn't _her_ Milk Dipper. She stepped off the train, eyes on the door –

– and nearly tripped over the boy sitting right in front of her.

_Oh shit,_ was her first thought, _he saw the train, he saw me get off the train, oh shit –_

But the boy wasn't freaking out, or even looking panicked. Instead he was just staring at her, his face totally expressionless, and Ryoko relaxed a little. He didn't seem weird or evil at all – okay, so he was wrapped up in a heavy black scarf despite the summer heat, but…that didn't make him _evil_.

"Uh," she said awkwardly. "This is – um, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this…"

The boy's lips twitched slightly. Ryoko gibbered.

"This is a dream," she said finally, in desperation. "A crazy dream where trains fly from the sky and – whoo! A dream!"

_Oh, Ryoko-chan,_ Ura groaned, _that was physically _painful _to listen to. Why don't you leave this to me –_

He didn't get a chance, though, because just then the boy stood up – oh geeze, he was taller than he'd looked, even taller than Yuuto or Haru. He had a weird grin on his face, and Ryoko began to wonder exactly _why_ he didn't seem to be freaked out about the train…

"It took you _forever_ to get here," he said. Ryoko knew that she should move, get away from this obviously crazy boy, but she couldn't force herself to take the few steps into Milk Dipper. "I was getting impatient. I look it, don't I?"

Ryoko tried to ask who he was, but he cut her off just as she was opening her mouth. "It's your fault this happened, you know," he continued. "If you'd just minded your own business, I could've just left you alone. But no, instead you had to make me go out of my way…"

Now, here, Ryoko should've done something intelligent – demanded to know who he was, if he was with the guy from her dream, or even just let one of the Imagin take over and sit on him until he told them what was going on. Instead, she said, "What?"

"It _should've_ killed you," the boy was saying, and he looked almost _petulant_, as though Ryoko's continued state of existence were incredibly inconvenient for him. "It should've killed _both_ of you, but something went wrong –"

_Get out of here,_ Ryuu said suddenly. He sounded strange – maybe it was just because this was boy-Ryuu, but he sounded almost…_panicked_. Momo was growling something incoherent about killing the guy right then and there, but Ryuu was getting louder, shouting over him that Ryoko needed to _move_ right then – and now Ura was explaining things to Kin, who had woken up from the noise (only in Ura's version, there was an exciting car chase, and girls in bikinis playing volleyball). It was probably only because Momo and Ryuu were both fighting for control at once that neither of them was getting it – and Ryoko really wished they would. The boy didn't look like he'd be much of a match for her when she was possessed, but if he'd caused this whole mess to begin with, who knew what he could do?

She began to move slowly backwards, not really sure where she was heading. The train had already pulled away, and she couldn't go into Milk Dipper; if this guy really was dangerous, she couldn't risk Ryoutarou's sister, or any other innocent people that might get in the way. No, she should just try to get _away_ in general, and maybe the Imagin would stop fighting long enough to figure something out –

"So now I have to come out and _personally_ kill you," the boy said, and Ryoko tried to walk backwards _faster_. All she managed to do was trip.

_Shut it, you fucking_ brat_, this is _not_ the time!_ Momo was screaming, and she could still feel him and Ryuu still struggling for control even as she fell. Ryuu was talking over him, shouting, _No, no, you don't know who he is, you don't _get it_ –_

Someone caught her.

At first she was relieved, but then it occurred to her that there was no one else around, especially no one who had incredibly huge golden-armored arms and oh fuck, oh _fuck_, there was a giant metal claw on the end of one of them. Against her better judgement, she looked up.

_Don't worry, girl-Ryoutarou,_ Momo said, _we're not going to let him JESUS CHRIST IT'S A LION WHAT THE FUCK._

Momo's concentration had been broken, though, and it was Ryuu who pushed his way in. Their hands were still free, and he snapped his fingers expectantly –

"Oh, please," said the boy. "Don't insult me like that. Now…"

He trailed off, looking thoughtful; the next thing Ryoko knew he'd come up and was right in their face, taking a closer look at them. Apparently he'd seen something funny (what, was there something in their teeth?), because he started to _laugh_, a high-pitched cackling sound that made their eardrums want to curl up and die.

"It's _you_," he said, "and I was starting to wonder where you'd gone. Oh well, you're all going to die now anyway –"

_What is he talking about?_ Ryoko said, bewildered, but Ryuu didn't answer. Instead he tried to slip out of the lion Imagin's grasp – and he almost succeeded, but its grip tightened on them before he could get all the way out, and he had to stop struggling or end up with a chest full of broken ribs. The boy was still laughing.

"What were you expecting, after you went traitor on me? That we'd just have a big dance contest?" he said, and then, very abruptly, his laughter cut off. "I'm tired of this. Just kill them."


	11. Chapter 10

Ryoutarou had thought things couldn't get any _weirder_ than they had already. Apparently, he'd been wrong.

Dead wrong.

Ryuu had jumped in the second the weird girl in the black scarf had started making death threats, and they were hightailing it out of there before anyone could even protest.

_Ryuu-chan, what –_ Ura started, just as Momo shrieked, _What the hell is your problem, you little brat!_

"Shut up," Ryuu hissed, still running as fast as Ryoutarou's body could go. The girl behind them was laughing, for some reason; she didn't even seem like she was going to try to follow them.

About five seconds later, they found out why, when a big metal claw struck out from nowhere and grabbed them by the collar. The Imagin it was attached to nonchalantly dragged them back, and it was either go along with it or choke to death.

The girl had stopped laughing by the time they reached her. Instead she frowned, reaching out and tilting their chin up so she could get a better look at them. She stared down into their face, her eyes driving right into Ryoutarou's soul, stripping it down and leaving it cold and bare in front of her.

"You make a better girl," she said finally, and looked back at the Imagin. "Well, I don't feel like wasting time today. Go ahead and –"

The sound of a train horn blaring drowned out the rest of what she was saying, and Ryoutarou could've melted in relief. But it wasn't DenLiner that appeared, streaking through the sky and down towards them –

"Oh, _perfect_," the girl said, and she was grinning again. Ryoutarou's heart sank as Yuuko jumped out of the train, not even waiting for it to come to a complete stop, followed by a panicked-looking Deneb.

_Oh, come on, she _always_ comes in just when we're getting to the good parts –_ Momo started, but Ryoutarou ignored her. Yuuko was running towards them, and there was a card in her hand –

"This is even _better_," the girl said, sounding pleased. "Hello, Sakurai Yuuko. Would you like to make a deal?"

Yuuko slowed down. She was still holding the card, but as long as all she did was hold it, Ryoutarou could deal with that.

_Let me back,_ he said, but Ryuu was ignoring him. _Let me back, we can't let her transform –_

"Well?" Yuuko said tightly. The girl smiled.

"I'll trade you," she said. She snapped her fingers, and the lion Imagin pulled them up by the collar; Ryoutarou's body began to choke again, only this time there wasn't any way to stop it. Yuuko's grip on the card tightened, but she still held it up, away from her belt.

Ryoutarou was suddenly grateful that Ryuu was still in control; if he hadn't been possessed, he didn't think his body would be able to last much longer. As it was, if someone didn't do something soon, he didn't know what would happen – even if they didn't die, this couldn't be good for his throat…

"How about it?" the girl was saying, gesturing to their pathetic hanging body. The lion Imagin gave them a shake for good measure; Ryuu made a squeaking noise and clawed at their throat, trying to pull their collar away, but it didn't help any. "I'll let them go. I won't go after him or the girl-version ever again, and I'll even spare the traitors – even _him_," she continued, pointing to Deneb. Yuuko looked suddenly uncertain. "And in exchange…you'll let me kill you."

_What?!_ Ryoutarou (and half the Imagin) shrieked. Even Ryuu made a surprised sound, although it didn't quite form a word.

"Yuuko," Deneb said, sounding worried, but Yuuko said nothing. She just stared at the girl, her eyes intense and brows furrowed and oh shit, there were little rainbow dots dancing in front of their vision now, this was not a good sign.

"I'm not picky," the girl said, when there was no response. "You could kill yourself, if that's how you want to do it. I'd have to make sure you're really dead, of course, but…"

Yuuko still wasn't saying anything, and the girl seemed to be getting impatient now. "I don't have all day," she snapped. "Do you know how long it takes a human to die of strangulation? Even a possessed one?"

Yuuko moved her hand, and for one horrible moment Ryoutarou thought she was going to transform – but no, instead she tucked the card into her pocket, and folded her arms across her chest.

"Yeah," she said, "Go fuck yourself, bitch."

There was a stunned silence. Ryoutarou probably would've appreciated it more if he weren't _choking to death_ right then.

The girl regained her composure quickly enough, though, and just shrugged. "You're not making this easy on me," she said. "But we'll do it the hard way, then. Leo –"

And that was when she was suddenly knocked over by a screaming, flailing Yuuko.

The lion Imagin immediately dropped them and ran over to help its master – who looked like she needed it; Yuuko had gotten one of her shoes off and was attempting to pound the girl's face in with a spiked heel. Ryoutarou's body fell hard, gasping for breath, and Ryoutarou found himself suddenly back in control.

_Wow,_ Momo commented, as Ryoutarou took big gulps of air. _I still think she's insane, but at least she's _badass_ insane._

_We have got to get some of those shoes for Ryoko,_ said Ura. _But why won't she transform? I'm sure that would make things easier…_

"Only – one card," Ryoutarou wheezed, trying to get to his feet. Ura sighed.

_Ah,_ she said. _In that case, I suppose we'd better go save her before she gets her head bashed in._

There was a short pause.

_Well, don't everyone all jump in at once,_ she muttered, and Ryoutarou sank gratefully down into disembodiment as Ura slipped in. She had the belt and Rider Pass out in one smooth movement, as though their body hadn't just been half-strangled, and a minute later they were in Rod Form and heading straight for the ensuing catfight.

It wasn't pretty. Deneb was shooting at the lion Imagin, but it didn't seem to be doing more than irritating it; as they ran forward, it grabbed Yuuko by the arm and flung her bodily away from the girl in the scarf. Deneb ran forward and she landed right on top of him, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

"Thank you for getting her out of the way," Ura said politely. The Imagin turned to stare at them – and then was unceremoniously whacked in the face with the DenGasher. It didn't do any visible damage, but Ura didn't let up, beating at it until it was forced to back away.

The individual smacks didn't seem to be hurting it much, but it was adding up. It was slow and couldn't move quickly enough to defend itself from all of her attacks, and it wasn't long at all before it had visibly weakened.

"Ah," Ura said, giving it one final crack across the face. It staggered this time, apparently stunned; she scanned the Pass almost lazily, tossing it off to the side as the belt Full Charged. "This body really isn't so bad, now that I'm used to it."

_Show-off,_ Momo grumbled. Ura smirked underneath the helmet.

The lion had regained its composure, but it was too late. Ura's kick hit it full in the chest – and apparently she'd lied about being used to his body, because they tripped as they landed, and it was a miracle that she managed to regain their balance before they fell flat on their face. Momo burst into hysterical laughter, albeit half-drowned out by the noise of the Imagin exploding behind them.

"Drat," Ura realized suddenly. "I forgot to say my catchphrase."

_That's all right,_ Ryoutarou managed, wondering for the millionth time why the Imagin were so obsessed with their catchphrases. It wasn't like this was a TV show. _Is Yuuko okay?_

Ura looked, and Ryoutarou was relieved to see that Deneb and Yuuko were both standing up. Yuuko was leaning against him, the arm she'd been thrown by hanging at an odd angle, but she was still alive and still present in the timestream, and that was the important part.

"Yuuko, your arm is broken," Deneb was saying, "we should really get you to a hospital –"

"I'm fine," Yuuko insisted, murder on her face as she stared at the girl in the black scarf, who was sitting on the ground where they'd left her, looking furious. "Just let me finish what I started – let _go_, Deneb –"

"Speaking of," Ura said, and they turned back to the girl. She glared up at them. "Are you the one behind all this?"

"Yes," she said, which threw Ryoutarou for a loop. She wasn't even going to make a few token protests? "So what? It's your own fault for sticking your pointy little nose where it doesn't belong. And I'm really very disappointed in _you_, Sakurai Yuuko," she continued, getting back to her feet; even though she was shorter than them, Ryoutarou felt suddenly disconcerted. "I bet I look like it, don't I? I gave you a chance to give yourself up, so just know that you're to blame for what happens after this –"

"Oh, _shut up_," Yuuko snapped. She probably would've launched herself at her again, except Deneb had his arm around her waist and pulled her back. "Just _shut up_! I know who you are, and I know what you're after, and I will _kill_ you before I let you –"

"_Yuuko_," Deneb said in alarm, and Yuuko shut her mouth, although she was still shooting the girl a look of pure venom.

"I think," Ura said quietly, "that we need to have a very long, very _thorough_ talk after this is over."

Yuuko started – she seemed to have forgotten they were there – and then she didn't seem to be able to look them in the face (or the mask, anyway). That pretty much confirmed it for Ryoutarou; that, and what she'd said earlier. She'd known about the girl the whole time, hadn't she? And did that mean that Yuuto, too –

"But first things first," Ura continued, and shook her head. "Would you like to do the honors, senpai?"

_I thought you'd never ask,_ Momo said in delight. The next thing Ryoutarou knew, it was Momo up front and they were switched over to Sword Form – wait a minute, hadn't Ura tossed the Pass away? How had they done that? Actually, stuff like that seemed to happen a lot, now that he thought about it…

He didn't have much time to contemplate it, however, because Momo immediately fell into position with a loud, gleeful, "I'm HERE!" (which was then followed by a smug, "_I_ don't forget," to which Ura very pointedly said nothing at all).

"Give me a break," the girl said. At some point she'd pulled out a small black book, and she was rifling through it almost absent-mindedly. "Look, I don't care about you. You can turn around and walk away right now –"

"She already said this," Momo sneered, "but go fuck yourself, bitch. I've been waiting _forever_ for my chance to stab somebody in the face, and yours just happens to be prime stabbing material."

The girl shrugged. "Your funeral," she said simply, and snapped her fingers.

Sand poured out from her clothes – _piles_ of sand, more than Ryoutarou had ever seen from a single person, and suddenly there were _six_ Imagin standing there, all of them leering unpleasantly. (Well, the ones that had faces were, anyway. Some of them had mandibles, and one of them just had a long mass of weedy hair over its entire face.) Momo did a double-take.

"That's _cheating_!" she shouted, but the girl had turned and was walking away at this point. She was laughing again. "Hey, get back here and _fight me_, you –"

"Please," said a voice from directly behind them. It was a very familiar voice. "Don't embarrass yourself. Oh, and hold still, would you?"

Their head whipped around, and if Ryoutarou nearly fainted out of reflex before he remembered he was incorporal. The guy from his dream was standing there, arms folded, his expression so smug that the smarminess was practically dripping off his face.

"You're the freaky stalker guy!" Momo said in fury, but he didn't seem to be listening. Instead he was pulling out a card from the case on his belt – wait a minute, had he been wearing that belt a second ago…?

"Finally," he sighed. "Do you have _any_ idea how hard it was to get you two to line up properly? Now – I told you to hold still, this is probably the best shot I'm going to get…_henshin_!"

He slid the card into the buckle and pushed in the wings, and the belt was saying something (and was that _theme music_?) but Ryoutarou couldn't hear it as Momo suddenly _exploded_.

"What the _hell_?" she demanded, and for once, Ryoutarou agreed wholeheartedly. "You're a Rider?! Why didn't you tell us this _before_, you dipshit, it would've saved us a ton of trouble – hey, I'm _talking_ to you, here! Who the fuck do you think you are?!"

The newly-transformed Rider stared at them, and although his face was obscured by all that pink-and-black, Ryoutarou could still _feel_ his condescending smile. Then he raised his arm and aimed his gun directly at their head.

"I'm just a passing-through Kamen Rider," he said, and Momo screamed and ducked as he pulled the trigger. "Remember that!"

There was a horrible screech. It reverberated throughout the entire area, echoes flying back and forth like they were in a cave instead of an open shopping plaza, and Ryoutarou was just glad that any bystanders had long ago had the good sense to run away. This noise would drive him _insane_ if it kept up much longer –

They'd detransformed at some point, falling down to their knees with their hands over their ears, but it wasn't helping any. The screaming just got _louder_, and just when he was convinced that it couldn't get any worse it _did_, breaking off into a long, unnatural shattering noise – or maybe that had been his eardrums bursting, it was hard to tell –

It was suddenly, magnificently silent. Momo took their hands off their ears and risked a glance upwards.

There was a girl kneeling in front of them, dressed in Ryoutarou's clothes, staring up at them with wide violet eyes.

"Oh," she said, in a small, surprised squeak. Then, in an instant, her purple-streaked pigtails had let themselves down and faded back into black, and she flung herself on top of them, screaming, "_Momo_!"

Ryoutarou was thrust unceremoniously back into control the second she touched him; that meant that he ended up flat on his back with Ryoko trying her best to hug him to death, and somehow this was not awkward at _all_ despite that this was 1) the most contact he'd ever had with a girl and 2) it was a girl version of _himself_. Still, he found himself hugging her back, totally bewildered but just happy that the horrible noise was gone –

"As touching as this is," the Rider said, leaning over them, "I think you have more important things to worry about now. Also, your shorts are riding down, and you don't seem to be wearing any underwear –"

Ryoko shrieked and sat up quickly. Ryoutarou did, too – and as he did, a wonderfully, magnificently familiar voice in his head said, _Oi! Ryoutarou!_

He could've cried in relief. A chorus of other voices echoed through the back of his mind – _Ah, if only we'd had a few more minutes with Ryoko-chan_ and _Ossu!_ and _This means I get to see Oneechan again, right? Can't hear your answer!_ – and he was just so completely happy to have them back that it took him a minute before he even noticed the Imagin.

It had collapsed into a heap on the sidewalk, but it was undeniably the creature from the photograph. Except that it seemed bigger in real life, and the spikes on its body seemed sharper, and its claws much longer, and…he remembered seeing that big clawed hand on his head, and he felt suddenly faint.

"There," said the Rider, sticking his gun back into his belt. He dusted off his hands and turned around, flipping them a mocking little salute as he walked off. "Now it's your problem. Good luck with that."

"What?" Ryoutarou said intelligently, but his attention snapped back to the Imagin as it staggered to its feet – oh shit, it really was _huge_. And then there were the six Imagin that had been summoned earlier, and…wait, what?

There was the lion Imagin they'd just killed, standing beside a scowling boy in a familiar black scarf. Ryoutarou thought he might send it after them, or summon more Imagin, but no – he just stared at them for a moment, then shook his head and stalked off in disgust.

Oh, well, less for them to deal with now (but Yuuto sure as hell owed them a _lot_ of answers after this). Ryoutarou and Ryoko both pulled themselves to their feet, and Ryoutarou fumbled for his Rider Pass again as the Imagin advanced –

Something shot it right in the face, and it screamed again, the same horrible scream he'd heard earlier, but this time it was quieter and didn't ring in his head – and fell back. Ryoutarou turned around –

"_Nougami_!" Zeronos shouted, though Ryoutarou almost didn't hear him over the roar of ZeroHorn's engine. He was holding the ZeroGasher bow in one hand, and as he drove up he fired off another shot into the crowd of Imagin, sending them scattering.

"Yuuto!" Ryoutarou said in relief – and so did Ryoko, who blushed when Ryoutarou looked at her in surprise. Zeronos pulled up and hopped off the bike, striding up to them as Deneb jogged up behind him.

"What happened here?" he demanded. "This is all your fault, somehow, I just know it – Nougami, _what did you do_?!"

"It really _is_ you, Yuuto!" Ryoutarou beamed, and he had to resist the sudden horrible urge to give Zeronos a hug. Zeronos paused, stared at him, and then continued on as if he'd said nothing at all.

"You'd better transform," he said gruffly. "Both of you, if you can. I'll take out what I can while you –"

"_Ryoko_!"

Ryoutarou dropped his Pass in shock. That didn't make sense – wasn't he back?! But no, there was Yuuko, running up with Deneb in tow and immediately glomming herself onto Ryoko despite her broken arm – okay, what _was_ it with girls and flinging themselves at people?

"Yuuko?" Ryoko said in shock, but Yuuko wasn't listening. She pulled back and began to inspect her, one hand still holding onto her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she demanded. "You're not hurt anywhere, are you? Any bruises? Did my boy-self treat you okay? He better have taken good care of you, or I'll –"

"Nougami," Zeronos said, and a small, spiteful part of Ryoutarou would have given anything just to see his face right then. "Nougami, _what the hell is this_."

Yuuko looked up and just _stared_ at Zeronos. Her mouth fell open.

"You –" Zeronos started, but one of the Imagin leaped for them, and he turned around and shot it through the stomach before it landed. "Oh, _fuck this_, we don't have time! Explanations later! _Deneb_!"

Deneb had been goggling unashamedly at Yuuko – not to mention the other Deneb, who was goggling right back – but at the sound of Zeronos' voice he straightened up and dashed over, his body flying apart and reassembling as Zeronos switched into Vega Form. He didn't even wait for his cape to come swooshing out before he was running straight for the Imagin, firing randomly into them.

"Let me say this to start!" he bellowed – and then he turned back and _bowed_, and thank god he had the sense to stop firing while he was turned towards them. "IT IS AN HONOR TO MEET YOU!"

"Deneb, you _idiot_," Yuuko groaned, burying her face in her hands as Zeronos turned back to the battle. (Ryoutarou could only imagine what Yuuto was screaming at him mentally.) Then she looked guiltily back at her Deneb, who was standing behind her and waving happily at Zeronos (who was waving back between shots). "…No offense."

"None taken," he reassured her cheerfully. "What a charming fellow! I wonder if he has any good recipes for shiitake…"

Ryoutarou and Ryoko exchanged a glance…and them they both smiled, half in bemusement at Deneb and half in sheer, complete relief. Relief that they had their Imagin back, relief that there might be a chance to fix things – and although they'd never admit it, relief at finally getting to vent their frustration on the thing that had caused it in the first place.

He retrieved his Pass and Ryoko held up hers, and Momo's ecstatic whooping echoed through his mind as he pulled out his belt –

"_No_," Yuuko said firmly. Both of them stopped in mid-belting and stared at her; she was glaring at Ryoko with an expression that Ryoutarou recognized as Yuuto's stubborn face. In her hand, he realized with a jolt, was her last Zero Card.

"Yuuko –" he started, but she was ignoring him. Instead she advanced on Ryoko again.

"You're not doing this," she told her. Ryoko started to protest, but she just got louder, speaking over her until she was practically yelling. "You're _not_, Ryoko! Just let me take care of this – this thing pulled you right out of this dimension, I'm not going to let you –"

"_Yuuko_!" Ryoko shouted, and even she looked surprised at herself. Less loudly, she said again, "Yuuko. I'll be fine."

"But you –"

Ryoko just _looked_ at her, and Yuuko's voice broke off. She looked over her shoulder at Deneb – whether she was looking to him for backup or just to tell her what to do, Ryoutarou didn't know, but Deneb just shook his head.

Yuuko wilted slightly. Then she said, very quietly, "All right."

Ryoko smiled at her, and Yuuko's resolve seemed to tighten. "All right," she continued, "but for god's sake _be careful_! And _you_ – I mean _you_, Momo – don't you dare let her get hurt!"

Ryoko paused for a moment. "Um," she said finally, "I don't think I can repeat what Momo just called you. But she said okay."

_Enough of this mushy crap,_ Momo grumbled, and then once again Ryoutarou found himself pushed into the background. The other Momo seemed to have the same idea, because when they looked over again, Ryoko's hair was tousled and there was a pink braid hanging past her ear.

The two Momos eyed each other speculatively – Ryoutarou had the sudden awful thought that they might start fighting; after all, it _was_ Momo, now twice as bad – but they just grinned at each other and, in unison, swiped their Passes.

"All right," Momo laughed, and he posed outrageously as the armor covered them. "All _right_, I'm HERE!"

"I'm – hey, who do you think you are?!" the other Momo demanded, in the same pose. "That's _my_ catchphrase! I'm the star of this show, who said you could go before me –"

On second thought, maybe this had been a bad idea after all.

"Guys!" Yuuko said, staring at them in disbelief. "Why are you fighting with each other? Go _kill things_! Kill lots of things! Kill them dead!"

Momo stared at her, then back to his female counterpart. "Hey," he said, "can we trade Zeronoses? I _like_ her."

"_Men_," the other Momo sighed. She left it at that, dashing right off into the fray, swinging the DenGasher just in time to keep Zeronos from being beheaded by a three-foot-long talon. Momo flailed and ran after her, screeching about being left behind when _he_ was the real star, here.

It'd only been two days, but he'd almost forgotten how much easier it was fighting with an Imagin who was used to his body. The girls had been accustomed to hitting quick and light, and he could see why; Ryoko's body could zip right through the Imagin, striking fast before the monsters even had a chance to touch her. But _his_ body –

"I FUCKING LOVE BEING A DUDE!!" Momo screamed, hacking right through an Imagin's face with one wild swing. Ryoutarou would not have put it in precisely these terms, but…

Their combined efforts had already cut down four of the Imagin, and Zeronos was finishing them off with his sabre. Ryoutarou was starting to feel pretty good about this –

– until a giant clawed hand grabbed them by the head and flung them, full-force, right into Milk Dipper's door.

They went right through it, glass shattering and ripping through the suit fabric, finally landing in a pile of tables and glass shards. They got the air knocked out of them and then some; Ryoutarou could hear Momo cursing as he landed back in the dining car, but he was too busy trying to get his breath back to care.

The pointy-eared Imagin stuck its head in through the broken door and grinned when it saw him – well, he thought it might be a grin; it looked more like it wanted to bite his head off and eat his brains. …Which it probably did, come to think of it…

He scrambled up – oh fuck, was Airi okay? Or Ashiri, or whoever was in whatever dimension this was? But the store was completely deserted, no customers and no Airi behind the counter. Nobody was even rushing to see what the noise had been. That was strange –

The Imagin ducked down, bending itself almost in half to get inside (oh god it was _so huge_). Ryoutarou stopped wondering about stupid things and instead focused on not getting hit as it lunged for him again, and then he was being pushed back again oh thank god…

Ryuu laughed and twisted out of the way, landing them neatly on their feet behind the monster. "Stupid, stupid, stuuuupid," he chanted, "you couldn't catch me in a hundred-million-zillion-squillion years!"

The Imagin didn't seem to know how to respond to this, so instead, it just crashed after them again. They had the advantage, though, of not being a trillion feet tall and in an enclosed space, and Ryuu danced easily out of the way.

"Ha!" He shot wildly, hitting it dead-on; the shots seemed to irritate it, but not do much beyond that. "You're a big stupid ugly-face, and you smell like AUUUUUGH!"

It had thrown a table at them. Ryuu's quick reflexes kept them from being completely crushed, but they were still knocked sideways, the DenGasher flying out of their hands and skidding across the floor.

_Oh, nice one,_ Momo growled. _You went and made it angry. Why don't you just go sit in a corner and let a _real_ man take care of this –_

_At your service!_ Kin declared, and they were in Axe Form before Momo had even gotten out a few token curses. Ryoutarou was starting to wonder why he'd missed them so much.

Ryuu must have really upset the Imagin, though, because it just charged right at them with apparently no care to how tight a squeeze the shop was. It crashed right into Kin, who grabbed it by its stupid pointy ears and tried to flip it over. It was too heavy, though, even for him, and all he managed to do was lurch it to the side; it jerked back, and although Kin dug their feet in, they still ended up being dragged along –

– until they were grabbed from behind once again. This time, though, they were hauled up and away from the Imagin by a familiar black-gloved hand.

"Cute little boys shouldn't play with dangerous animals," Ryoko – or Ura, rather – said, shaking her head. Kin stared up at her – and then back at the Imagin, which was trying to struggle back to its feet again. It wasn't doing a very good job; the ceiling kept getting in the way.

"It's pretty strong, huh?" Ura said. Kin eyed it contemptuously.

"Not that strong," he muttered, and Ura laughed – well, chuckled might've been more accurate; Ryoutarou wasn't sure that Ura was physically capable of outright laughing. "I shall make it _weep_ at my unbridled –"

Ura chuckled again and held up the K-Taros, holding it flippantly between her thumb and index finger. "Well, it's not going to wait for us forever. Shall we?"

Kin grunted. That seemed to be enough for her, though, because she flipped it open and began to type – _ah,_ his Ura commented, _now that I have a chance to look properly…she looks good in spandex, doesn't she?_

_Please never say that again,_ Ryoutarou said, totally traumatized; Ura just sighed longingly, which was even _worse_. He was really never going to be clean again, was he?

_Whatever! _Momo snarled, and Ryoutarou could practically hear him hopping up and down in impatience. _I'm not gonna let some stupid girl steal all my glory! Hurry up!_

Ryoko's transformation had finished by the time they started, and her Momo – Ryoutarou decided to just think of her as girl-Momo to save his poor befuddled brain – huffed at them, hands on her hips. They ignored her, though, in favor of Momo stretching gleefully.

"I fucking _love_ being a dude," he said again. Their right arm snickered.

"Oh, senpai," it said, "we all know you secretly enjoyed being a girl. Why, the things you did with Ryoko-chan's body –"

"_Excuse me_?!" girl-Momo shrieked, and she was echoed by three other voices from various parts of her body. Momo flailed and swore, which should've made it worse, but apparently Ryoko was making a hasty intervention; girl-Momo relaxed after a moment, muttering something obscene under her breath.

_Please,_ Ryoutarou begged his own Imagin, _let's just fight the monster, not each other. For once?_

Momo grumbled, but he hefted the DenGasher anyway. "All right," he said, in his friendliest snarl, "you ready, girl? Just try and keep up with me."

"You got that backwards," girl-Momo said smugly. "_You_ keep up with _me_."

They both lunged at the same moment. The pointy-eared Imagin had only just gotten to its feet when it was knocked off of them again, and then alternatively sliced and diced from two directions at once.

Girl-Momo was dashing around, hitting any bit of Imagin she could reach; this turned out to be a good thing, since the Imagin was too distracted by her to go after _them_. Momo was chopping wildly, but they weren't doing a very good job; Ryuu kept trying to move their legs in opposite directions, and their arms weren't cooperating at all.

"I said _left_!" Momo screeched, as their sword dragged across the Imagin's face. "_Left_, you stupid bear, do you have _shit_ for _brains_ –"

"You did not specify my left or your left," Kin said staunchly. Momo screamed in frustration, and then again as Ryuu did a complicated dance step that nearly got them decapitated by a wildly-swinging claw.

"We're in the same body! _It's the same fucking direction_!" he shouted. "And _you_, you _brat_, who said you could go that way –"

"Having some trouble?" girl-Momo laughed, peering at them over the Imagin's back. Momo glared at her.

"I'm _fine_," he muttered. Then, more quietly, "_You idiots, you're making me look bad in front of a _girl!"

"Oh, _senpai_," Ura started gleefully, but Momo cut him off with a loud gurgling, "AUGH!"

Girl-Momo was still watching them, and Ryoutarou could just _picture_ the look on her face. "You boys don't know how to share, do you?" she sighed, although she didn't sound too broken up about it. She hopped up onto the Imagin's back, treading deliberately onto its face in the process, and wiggled her fingers at them. "Ha! Guess we know who's better now, don't we? You really _suck_ at being Den-O, you know that?"

"Is she calling us stupid?" Ryuu asked. Momo grit their teeth, their grip tightening on the DenGasher. Ryoutarou really hoped they were not about to do something insane.

"I believe that could be implied, yes," said Ura, just as girl-Momo made a very rude gesture. Ryoutarou realized that hoping for Momo to not do something insane was about as futile as hoping for the sun not to rise, and instead prayed that they would just make it out of this without needing _too_ many stitches.

Momo ran at the Imagin, the DenGasher held high above their head, screaming incoherently. The other Imagin all shrieked at him, and Ryuu tried to do something fancy with their feet, but he kept going forward anyway; it was obvious that whoever had decided to give Momo main control over Climax Form was either a _fucking idiot_ or really wanted Ryoutarou to die.

The sword went right into the Imagin's eye (which was _disgusting_, thank you); it screamed that horrible brain-breaking shriek again, flailing wildly with its eight-million-foot-long claws, and their legs were trying to go one way and their arms in two opposite directions and Momo was laughing like a crazy lunatic, and Ryoutarou was absolutely, utterly certain that this was the end for him –

And then something just _clicked_, and instead of dying a horrible death, they swung up and out of the way of the Imagin's talons, with a happy "WHEE!" emenating from their chest plate.

The DenGasher made a squishing noise as it dislodged itself from the eye (oh _ew_, that was a noise he'd be hearing in his nightmares), but it slid out easily enough, and they landed neatly on their feet, away from the Imagin. Girl-Momo stood next to them, hands on her hips.

"Okay," she said finally, "you're not _that_ bad at being Den-O. …For a bunch of boys."

"What are you talking about, I am awesome," Momo declared. He grinned and mimicked her pose, exaggerating the tilt of her hips, and Ryoutarou was sure that they looked _really stupid_ right about now. "I guess _you're_ not that bad either, Den-Ko!"

There was a collective groan from their armor. "That was _baaaad_," Ryuu whined. (Ryoutarou silently agreed.)

"And anyway," girl-Ura's voice said primly, from Ryoko's shoulder, "properly it would be Den-_Jou_, although the title of Den-O really doesn't seem to be gender-specific –"

"WE ARE THE KING OF STRENGTH!!" girl-Kin shouted. There was a short pause; Momo and his female counterpart exchanged a glance, and then appeared to simultaneously decide to ignore her.

"Enough of this," girl-Momo said, and she and Momo both took out their Passes. It was eerie, how similarly they moved, scanning them almost in unison; the _Charge and Up_ voices were almost in perfect stereo (although theirs appeared to have a slightly higher voice).

The rails on their bodies turned and shifted, bits of armor rearranging itself until Kin's face was on the end of their fist, girl-Ura's at Ryoko's foot. Ryoutarou could _feel_ the rush of power, the sudden boost of adrenaline, like someone had just shot him full of pure _strength_ and focused it all in his hand –

They both jumped at the Imagin at the same time. Ryoko's kick hit at the same moment as Ryoutarou's punch, and there was a loud _crack_, and then –

Bits of Imagin were going everywhere. Ryoutarou thought that _he_ was probably the one who was going to have to clean this up, but he didn't care anymore; Momo was cackling in victory, still hyped up from the finisher's power surge, and the laughter and cheering was echoing around the room from various bits of his and Ryoko's anatomy.

"That was fun," girl-Momo said, when the flaming pieces of monster had cooled down a little. "Let's never do this again."

Momo snorted and grinned at her, apparently having forgotten that she couldn't see him. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, okay."


	12. Chapter 11

"So – _how_ exactly are we supposed to get home?" Ryoutarou said, about a second before Ryoko said the same thing. She closed her mouth and instead looked around at everyone else, not even bothering to pretend not to stare. It wasn't like anyone would notice; they were all too busy staring at each other.

They were assembled right in front of Milk Dipper's smashed-up door. She still wasn't sure how the Imagin had been able to leave the train – one of the Owners had said something vague about this being because they were between worlds at the moment, but had refused to explain it any further than that.

The Imagin – she decided to think of them as the –kos and the –taroses, just for simplicity's sake – had freaked out at each other, but then seemed to hit it off splendidly. The two Kins were having a wrestling match that might've been obscene if it hadn't been _them_; the Ryuus were cheering them on, and the Uras were attempting to flirt with each other and not doing a very good job. Momotaros and Momoko were sitting and glaring at each other, which for them probably meant they were best friends forever now.

As for her and Ryoutarou, they were standing next to each other, not quite touching but close to it – she was glad nobody pointed it out, because she didn't know if she could've explained why. She just felt a _need_ to be close to him, maybe because he _was_ her, sort of. Or…something like that, anyway.

"Yeah," Yuuto grumbled, "I'd kind of like to know that too."

He and Yuuko were standing by them, but they were pointedly not looking at each other; not since his Deneb had pointed at them and cheerfully said, "You could be _twins_, Yuuto!"

(They'd stared at each other, and then said, in perfect unison, "We look _nothing_ alike!". Ryoko had died a little on the inside, but nobody had been brave enough to say anything to them yet.)

"I think I understand it," Hana said. Like everyone else, she was also with her counterpart; she and Haru had been conferring in quiet voices for the past few minutes, and now he spoke up, too.

"We're in both worlds at once," he said, "only not. This is kind of…the point where they overlap, and we're in the space between them." He saw their blank faces and scowled, spreading his hands hopelessly. "Look, I don't know how to explain it any better than that. We're just _here_, okay?"

Everyone glanced at Hana, in case she could interpret this any better, but she just shrugged.

"What I want to know, though," she said, "is what _happened_? That was an Imagin, wasn't it? How did it do this? And how do we fix it again?"

Yuuto cleared his throat, very awkwardly, and glowered as their attention focused on him. (And now that he was standing near Haru, the resemblance was almost too much to bear; Ryoko had the sense that she was missing something important here, but she couldn't figure out what. She filed it away to ask Haru about later, if she could work up the courage.)

"About that," he said. "When I was at the Station, I did get Station Master to tell me a couple of things –"

"I would _love_ to know how you managed that," Urataros drawled. Yuuto looked horribly uncomfortable, as thought traumatic memories were passing unbidden through his brain, and he shook his head as though to dislodge them.

"You _don't_," he said shortly. "You really, _really_ don't. Anyway –" He shrugged, hands in his pockets. "He said it was an Imagin, one that could reach through dimensions. It was being controlled…"

He glanced over at Ryoutarou, very briefly, looking suddenly uncertain. Ryoko was aware of Ryoutarou tensing up beside her, but Yuuto continued on then, and the moment was lost.

"By someone," he said firmly. Ryoko blinked. Did he mean that weird girl in the black scarf? The hesitation made her wonder if he knew who it was, but that couldn't be – Yuuko had never mentioned that someone might be _controlling_ the Imagin, only that she'd been summoned from the past to fight them, and Yuuko wouldn't lie to her. She'd told her about the cards, hadn't she, and what could she have to hide that was worse than _that_?

"I still don't get it," Momotaros complained. "That must've been the stupidest ever way to try to kill us. Why didn't it just show up and face us like a man?"

"Because men are stupid," Momoko said. Momotaros said something unintelligable at her, which got them started on a swearing match; it took another minute to calm them down, by which point Yuuto had started talking again.

"I left after he said that – the thing about someone controlling it," he said, and once again, Ryoko had the feeling that there was something he wasn't telling them. She glanced up at Yuuko, but for some reason, Yuuko didn't seem to want to look her in the eye. "And that's all he told me. I guess there's _some_ way for us to get back to our dimensions, but I don't know how."

There was a long, tense silence, broken only by Ryuutaros' humming. Everyone was avoiding looking at each other, and Ryoko wondered if they even _could_ get back. Maybe they'd be stuck here forever, in this weird space between worlds – maybe she really would never get to see her brother again, or have a moment to herself without the Imagin, or even –

"I'm going to die a virgin," Ryoutarou muttered, apparently thinking along the same lines. Ryoko stared at him, but she seemed to be the only one who'd heard.

The only ones who didn't look at all concerned – save for the Ryuus, who were just plain not paying attention – were the two Owners, who were standing together and apparently having a contest to see who could stare the most penetratingly at each other. They broke it off, though, and turned in complete unison to look at the rest of them.

"It shouldn't be much longer," one of them said, as the other nodded and folded his hands across his cane. Ryoko was just wondering what _that_ was supposed to mean when suddenly –

"Hello," said a voice, from directly behind her. It was a voice that was becoming increasingly familiar. "I see you managed to kill it after all. Congratulations."

She turned around slowly. The guy behind her waved and held up his camera, as if in greeting.

That wasn't what surprised her, though. She'd figured he'd show up sooner or later, to gloat over them if nothing else – no, it was the _other_ boy that really gave her a shock.

"You!" she spluttered. The boy gave her a polite nod, although he was grinning too much for it to really look sincere. He was also holding a covered basket, but she didn't really register it at first. "You were at the station! You're the one who told me where to find Station Master –"

"—yes, _after_ Tsukasa pulled you through the crowd," he said, giving the other boy a disapproving look. Tsukasa looked entirely unrepentant. "I told him afterwards that he could've just _told_ you where to go, but no, he always has to do things _his_ way…"

"Well, she got there in the end, that's what matters," Tsukasa said crossly. "Of course, she shouldn't have been there in the _first_ place –"

He sent the Owners an evil look. They just stared back impassively, until he became uncomfortable and looked away again.

"Miss Nougami is a passenger," said the one on the left. The one on the right nodded and added, "And the Den-Liner will always deliver its passengers wherever they need to go."

Tsukasa rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said. "At least the Station Master knew enough to send her off again. But I suppose I shouldn't expect _you_ to understand; all you do is run the train –"

For a moment, Ryoko thought Owner might lose his temper, and then there would be a horribly bloody mess, times two. Hana must have sensed it too, because she immediately cut in with, "What do you mean, we shouldn't have been at the station?"

"Not _we_," Tsukasa sneered. "Just _her_. I had them almost lined up, and then what do you do, you drag her off into the fourth dimension and ruin it so that I have to start all over again –"

"Tsukasa," the other boy said sharply, and Tsukasa broke off, although he still looked pouty. The boy sighed and shook his head.

"Let's start over," he said. "Hi! I'm Kaitou Daiki. This is my associate –"

"—acquaintance," Tsukasa muttered darkly. Daiki ignored him.

"—well, anyway, this is Kadoya Tsukasa." Daiki beamed around at them all. "And he has something he wants to say to you."

There was a long pause. Tsukasa stared down his nose at them all.

"You're welcome," he said flatly. Daiki sighed and pulled him aside.

Ryoko and Ryoutarou stared at each other, and then back at Tsukasa and Daiki, who were having an angry, whispered conference (mostly Tsukasa seemed to be protesting that he had saved their lives, they should be thanking him, and why the hell was he listening to Kaitou anyway, and something about a bossy grapefruit, whatever _that_ meant). Behind them, the Imagin were grumbling and the humans were trying to talk over them, but Ryoko had long since learned to tell the difference between important information and just complaining, and she tuned them out.

By this point, the two guys had turned back to them. Tsukasa's arms were folded across his chest, which looked uncomfortable with the camera, and Daiki looked irritated.

"Well, Tsukasa's sorry for being such a dickhead," he said. Tsukasa snorted, but Daiki pointedly ignored him. "And he would like you to have these as a peace offering."

He handed his basket to Ryoutarou, who stared at it as though he were afraid something might leap out of it and attack his face. Ryoko, feeling that this was likely, took a step back. Daiki seemed to be waiting though, so Ryoutarou took a corner of the covering and, very carefully, lifted it.

Instead of a vicious beast, there was the scent of delicious, fresh-baked muffins. Ryoutarou looked more shocked and traumatized than if it had really been something dangerous; frankly, Ryoko didn't blame him.

("_Muffins_?!" Momotaros shouted in disbelief. "What is with the _muffins_?!"

"I know a joke about muffins!" Ryuuko said brightly. "So these two muffins are in an oven, and one turns to the other and says 'hey is it hot in here, or is it just me', and the other one –"

"_Muffins_!" Momotaros screeched, throwing his hands up in the air. Ryuuko threw a crayon at him.)

"I baked them myself," Daiki pointed out. "Consider it my apology for Tsukasa's stupidity."

He sounded pleasant enough, and so far he'd been friendly, but for some reason Ryoko was hesitant to trust him. There was something sharp in his smile, and it didn't quite reach his eyes; and his arm shot out quick as lightning to slap Tsukasa's hand away from the basket.

"What?" Tsukasa demanded. Daiki didn't even look at him.

"You don't get a muffin," he told him. "That's your punishment for being a dickhead. Now, are you going to do what you came here to do, or not?"

Tsukasa glared at him, but he sighed and straightened up anyway. "Okay," he said to the two of them, "so, I'm not actually _required_ to send you back to your proper dimensions, but I do _so_ hate leaving loose ends, so if you'll all line up –"

"Wait," Momotaros interrupted. At some point he and Momoko had come up behind them; Ryoko could feel Momoko hovering protectively behind her, and it was an oddly comforting sensation. "Wait, so you're not even going to tell us what happened? You _fucking_ –"

"People who swear don't get muffins, either," Tsukasa said – and amazingly, Momotaros shut up. "Oh, fine, if you _must_ know…"

His arm swung out dramatically, pointing at Ryoutarou in such an exaggerated pose that for a second, Ryoko was certain he wasn't serious. Then he opened his mouth again, and she realized that no, he actually _was_.

"_He_ got grabbed by it first," he said. Ryoutarou seemed to be trying to stare at the finger in his face; his eyes were crossing. "And when he got thrown into _her_ world –" His finger moved from Ryoutarou's face to Ryoko's. "—_she_ got tossed into _his_. Ordinarily something like this wouldn't be a problem, or at least not one that requires my level of expertise, but because it was still attached to both of them, the delicate balance between dimensions –"

"What?" Momotaros demanded. "What the hell does that even mean! Japanese, motherfucker, do you speak it?!"

Tsukasa rolled his eyes. "All right," he said, "let me put this in words small enough to get through your thick red skull." He leaned in towards Momotaros and said, loudly and slowly, "A big, bad Imagin switched these two crazy kids around, and because it was still holding onto them, I had to get them to line up before I could do anything about it. Which was _much_ harder than it had to be," he added, glowering at Ryoko and Ryoutarou as though they'd made his life difficult on purpose. "You two made me run _all over the place_ trying to get you in the right spot. The pictures helped, of course –"

"Is that why the picture sucked so much?" Momoko asked. Tsukasa broke off.

"…They weren't i_that_/i bad," he muttered finally. Ryoko was afraid for a moment that he was going to sulk, but instead he just continued on.

"So after doing this _twice_," he said, pointedly not looking at either Owner, "I _finally_ got you two dimwits to cooperate, and I was able to force the thing to manifest, and it sort of dragged your dimensions together with it, creating this charming enviroment. And then you killed it, and so now I am here to fix everything and put it all to rights, only _somebody_ insisted on coming along –"

Daiki gave them a pleasant wave. Behind them, Momoko proceeded to explode.

"So – you knew what was going on the _whole time_?!" she shouted. "And so you decided to sneak around and stalk us and be _cryptic_ about it instead of just _telling us_ like a _normal fucking person_ –"

She continued on for at least another two minutes, but the rest of it was just a jumble of incredibly vulgar words. When she finally trailed off, though, Ryoutarou spoke up.

"You _could've_ just told us," he said, sounding almost apologetic. "I mean, we would've believed you. You could've just come up and told us what was going on, and we would've helped…"

Tsukasa took his hands away from his ears, where they had been during Momoko's tirade, and stared at him as though he were insane. Ryoutarou shuffled awkwardly.

Finally Tsukasa said, quite haughtily, "I don't work like that."

There was a collective outburst from everyone behind them, but Ryoko thought they should've expected something like this. Nothing _else_ had made sense these past few days…

Tsukasa made them line up after that (the Momos had complained, but he'd told them fine, if they didn't _want_ to go home…) in two rows, organized by world. Ryoko stood at the head of her line and fidgeted, and although the Imagin had amassed behind her, it wasn't as comforting as it usually was.

"All right, then," Tsukasa was saying, "if we're all ready –"

"Wait!"

It took Ryoko a moment to realize that it'd been _her_ that had just said that – everyone turned to stare at her, and she nearly melted in embarrassment. Tsukasa gave her the sort of look that was usually reserved for worms.

"Can I just have a minute?" she asked, and before he could answer, she rushed over to the other line, trying to ignore all the stares. Tsukasa was protesting behind her, but she kept telling herself it would only take a second…

She stopped in front of Ryoutarou and held out Ozaki's coat, folded into a slightly-haphazard square. She'd already taken out Ryuu's (now incredibly creased) drawing. "This is Ozaki-san's," she said. "He gave it to me after – well – if you could just give it back to him for me…"

Ryoutarou nodded as she handed it to him. He was still holding the basket of Daiki's muffins, and was having difficulty juggling them as he took it, so Ryoko took them from him and left it at that.

Then – not really able to look him in the face – she burst out with, "I just want to say – I mean, since this is the last time we'll see each other, hopefully…er, by hopefully, it's not that I don't _want_ to see you again, but…"

She glanced up, and was relieved to see that Ryoutarou looked like he understood what she was trying to say (which was amazing, because even _she_ wasn't sure what she was babbling about). He shrugged self-consciously.

"Yeah," he said, and he managed a little half-smile. "Me too."

Ryoko smiled back, and then turned to Yuuto, who was standing next to Ryoutarou (albeit somewhat displaced due to the Imagin crowding). "And – thanks," she said to him. "For everything. You didn't have to…"

"Whatever," Yuuto muttered, staring at his feet. He'd turned bright red for some reason. "Just stay out of trouble, okay?"

Ryoko managed to laugh at that – it hadn't exactly been a good-bye, but…it'd been enough. She turned back around just in time to see Tsukasa watching them, his finger on the shutter of his camera.

"Well, that's heartwarming," he said, as Ryoko scuttled back to her line. "Are we _finally_ ready now?"

Once the lines had gotten settled back down – and Tsukasa had to rearrange them a couple of times, because the Imagin kept trying to form circles around Ryoko and Ryoutarou, until Hana's fists put an end to that – Tsukasa folded his arms and look over at Daiki.

"Since you _insisted_ on coming with me, you might as well do it," he said. Daiki shrugged.

"All right," he said, and he pulled out some kind of strange gun, blue and black with yellow accents. "I've gotten what I came here for anyway."

"Wait a minute," one of the Owners piped up. He was looking in his coat for something. "My spoons seem to have _mysteriously_ gone missing…"

"Okay, time to go," Daiki said quickly. He aimed the gun at them, and for one horrible moment Ryoko thought that they'd been wrong, this was all an elaborate ruse to get them together in one place to get them all at once – and he pulled the trigger, and there was a shot, and…

Blackness.

Ryoko wondered if she was dead – but no, she could still feel the ache in her body, and the ringing in her ears. And she could smell something, something rich and deep…the scent of coffee brewing…

From behind her she heard a voice, sounding surprised, say, "Ryo-chan?"

Ryoko turned around, and burst into relieved tears.

"Niisan!"

* * *

Ryoutarou opened his eyes.

He was still in front of Milk Dipper, but he was alone. Well, that wasn't strictly true – there were a few people on the other side of the street, just passing by – but the Imagin were gone, and when he looked around, Hana and Yuuto and Owner were nowhere to be seen. He had the sudden terrible thought that maybe it hadn't worked after all, maybe he'd become stuck in some _other_ weird alternate universe –

_Oi,_ said Momo's voice, echoing inside his head, and Ryoutarou sighed in relief. _Bastard, he didn't have to dump us right back on the train!_

"Well, you don't have physical forms here," Ryoutarou pointed out, which set Momo to incomprehensible grumbling, as did all logic. He pushed open the door to Milk Dipper, almost holding his breath – just because he had the right Imagin didn't necessarily mean he had the right Milk Dipper…

Airi looked up as he came in, and Miura and Ozaki stopped bickering long enough to register his entrance.

"Oh, Ryo-chan," said Airi, and for the first time since their parents had died, Ryoutarou felt the urge to run over and just hug her and _never let go_. "Where have you been all day?"

Ryoutarou was halfway to the counter when he realized what he was doing, but he didn't stop. Airi made a surprised noise as he wrapped his arms around her – it really had been forever since he'd hugged her; when had she gotten so _short_? – but she didn't push him away, just let him hold her in silence while Ozaki and Miura wailed behind them. Ozaki's coat got dropped somewhere in there, but he didn't care.

_Hey, can I go next?_ Ryuu asked eagerly. _Can't hear your –_

_Shut up, Ryuuta,_ Ura hissed. Ryuu whined, but Ryoutarou ignored him.

These past few days had been so – he couldn't even think of a word to describe them. Parallel universes and female Imagin and, most horrifyingly of all, a girl version of Yuuto in a miniskirt…it felt almost like a dream, now that he was back. He almost couldn't believe that he'd really met Ryoko, and that they'd really fought off a giant crazy Imagin together, and…

He'd have to find Yuuto, and have a very _long_ talk with him about the cards, and Sakurai-san, and the boy in the black scarf – but that could wait. Right now he just wanted to stand here and enjoy being _home_.

"Ryo-chan," Airi said, and Ryoutarou suddenly realized how weird he was being. He let go of her and stepped back, but he couldn't stop himself from grinning stupidly. He probably looked insane, but he didn't care.

Airi was looking at him kind of strangely, but then her ability to accept anything up to and including fiery apocolypse kicked in, and she smiled at him again. "I thought you'd be back earlier," she said, her tone gently chastising. "We've got lots of customers today. Could you –"

"Sure," Ryoutarou interrupted, still grinning like a loon. He'd never been so happy to put that apron on and head out onto the floor, working his way through customers and ignoring the running commentary going on in the back of his head. It was mindless work, and he could almost put the entire adventure he'd just had out of his mind. He could almost pretend that it really had been a dream…

There was one customer by the door who had an empty cup, so Ryoutarou went over and put on his most winning smile. (He was aware that this was not saying much.)

"Would you like any more, or something to go with –" he started, but the question died in his throat as the customer looked up at him. There was an incoherent shrieking noise from the Imagin, but Ryoutarou couldn't make himself say anything.

"Actually," said Tsukasa, looking as smug as ever, "I was just leaving."

He stood up and pushed past Ryoutarou, frozen in place, and he was out the door before he could manage to move again. Ryoutarou stared after him in bewilderment.

_What was _that_ all about?_ Momo snapped. Ryoutarou shrugged and shook his head, automatically starting to clear away Tsukasa's empty cup.

"Maybe he was just checking on us," he murmured, as he lifted the saucer. "You know, to make sure we got back okay. Maybe he –"

There was something stuck to the underside of the saucer. He'd thought it was a napkin at first, but the paper was stiff and thin, and it caught the light when he moved it…

Ryoutarou turned it over. It was a photograph of him and Ryoko, from that moment just before they'd been sent home; it was overexposed and there were ghost-images of the Imagine superimposed over them, but he and Ryoko had come out sharp and clear.

He was still looking at it as he took the empty dishes back up to the counter. Ozaki and Miura, being nosy and obnoxious, both immediately peeked over his shoulder.

"Oh, it's that girl who was in here yesterday," Ozaki said in surprise. "Also, that's a terrible picture."

Ryoutarou started to put it away, not really wanting anyone else to see it, but Airi had already come over, coffeepot in hand. She pursed her lips and peered at it as she poured the two men new cups.

"Oh, her," she said. "Is she a friend of yours, Ryo-chan? She was so upset yesterday because she couldn't find her brother – I hope she got home all right."

Ryoutarou almost laughed. He looked back down at the picture, at Ryoko's face, so similar to his own…and then he _did_ laugh, just a little.

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, she did."


End file.
